Supreme Court lets Trump administration use SAVE database for now

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in its push to use a controversial database to review state voter rolls for potential noncitizens. Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday sided with the Trump administration in its push to use a controversial database to review state voter rolls for potential noncitizens, pausing for now a lower court order that found that expanded system violated federal privacy laws. In a 6-3 decision, the justices granted a request for emergency relief from the Justice Department to stay a June ruling from a judge in Washington, D.C. The judge had blocked the Department of Homeland Security's overhauled database — called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system — which the administration allows states and localities to use to verify citizenship and immigration status of registered voters.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan found that the Trump administration "knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote" through the overhauled SAVE system. The potential impact of the Supreme Court's decision for the upcoming midterm elections is likely to be limited, as federal law bars states from systematically removing ineligible voters from their voter registration lists within 90 days of an election. The Nov. 3 general election is less