For the second time in three days, the Trump administration on Tuesday came to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to clear the way for it to implement a program that it says is intended to combat election fraud. U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer urged the court to pause a ruling by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that bars the government from using the current version of the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to verify voters’ citizenship.
Sauer told the justices that the order by U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan “makes it harder to detect ineligible voters, undermining the integrity of federal elections and public confidence in the results of those elections.” The administration argues the modified SAVE system, expanded after a March executive order to include U.S.-born citizen records, Social Security numbers, and bulk searches, is needed ahead of the 2026 midterms.
