From NBC News · Lawrence Hurley · · 1m 50s
Supreme Court backs Trump voter purge database
The court allows the administration to use an expanded citizenship database for voter roll purges, overruling lower courts that said it was likely unlawful.
In brief
The court allows the administration to use an expanded citizenship database for voter roll purges, overruling lower courts that said it was likely unlawful. The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision lets the Trump administration use an expanded federal database to identify noncitizens on voter rolls, despite concerns the data…
Court backs voter purge database
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on September 25, 2026, allowing the Trump administration to use an expanded federal database for identifying noncitizens on voter rolls. Lower courts had blocked it as likely unlawful.
SAVE database expanded in 2025
The SAVE program, created by Congress in 1986 to verify immigration status for benefit applications, was expanded by Trump's March 2025 executive order. The administration added Social Security data and enabled bulk searches.
Texas found errors in flagged voters
Texas processed over 18 million voter registrations through the expanded SAVE database. Local officials discovered many flagged voters were newly naturalized citizens, according to ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reporting.
Court notes election timing limits impact
The Supreme Court acknowledged that federal law bars broad voter purges in the weeks before elections, which limits the database's impact this year. States can still make individual citizenship queries.
“limits the potential impact”
Justice Jackson warns of disenfranchisement
In dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued that harming even a few lawful voters outweighs any benefit from the government's action, which she said likely exceeds its legal authority.
“the harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm”
Voting rights groups challenge the plan
The League of Women Voters and allied groups argue the expanded database violates the Social Security Act and Privacy Act. They warn it puts millions at risk of unlawful targeting.
“puts millions of Americans at risk for being unlawfully targeted”
Noncitizen voting remains extremely rare
Noncitizen voting is extremely rare. All states already conduct voter roll maintenance and have processes to catch noncitizens, making the expanded database largely unnecessary.
What matters most
The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision lets the Trump administration use an expanded federal database to identify noncitizens on voter rolls, despite concerns the data is unreliable and could remove eligible voters.
