The U.S. Supreme Court today handed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a major win ahead of the midterm elections. It issued an emergency stay that will allow the Trump administration to restore an expanded version of DHS's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system for states that wish to use it to check voters' citizenship status ahead of the midterms.

The ruling was 6-3, with the liberal justices dissenting.

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The Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the Trump administration to implement its overhauled immigration database, which it says is aimed at combatting voter fraud, in time for November’s elections over the dissent of the liberal justices. 

The overhaul faced opposition from Democrats and some voting groups, and a judge had blocked it for violating federal privacy law. The Supreme Court’s emergency ruling lifts that block, finding the challengers’ claims are likely to fail. 

The majority wrote that “the Federal Government has an obligation to respond to requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify the citizenship of voters.” 

“The order below prevents the Federal Government from using the program it believes is best suited to the task,” the court wrote. 

SAVE has existed since 1986 as a tool for agencies to verify immigration status for benefits. In March of last year, President Trump issued an executive order directing DHS and the Social Security Administration to use better tools to verify voter citizenship.

In May 2025, DHS overhauled SAVE, adding Social Security Records and allowing bulk queries instead of singular lookups that required DHS alien numbers.

Voting rights and privacy groups like the League of Women Voters sued, and in June U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, a Biden appointee, vacated the overhaul, claiming it violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act, and the APA.

The dissenting justices claimed the ruling will cause harm to lawful voters.

The Republican National Lawyers Association said the ruling "restored common sense."

The ruling will allow states to secure our elections.