Today, in a per curiam decision, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump Administration to proceed with its months-long effort to use an expanded version of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (“SAVE”) system for citizenship verification of registered voters. The expanded SAVE system is a linchpin in the Trump Administration’s efforts to review and purge state voter rolls for purported noncitizens as it seeks to make it harder for Americans to vote this November.
Almost a year ago, the League of Women Voters filed a class action lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and other agencies in the Trump Administration arguing that the expanded SAVE system violated the privacy rights of American citizens. They sought to block use of the expanded database. In June 2026, a district court judge did just that, blocking the expanded SAVE system, and the D.C. Circuit declined to issue a stay pending appeal of this decision. Nonetheless, today, the Supreme Court stayed that decision on its shadow docket, thus paving the way for the Trump Administration and states to try to use expanded SAVE to remove voters from the rolls.
As a practical matter, this decision has a few potential effects. Most notably, the decision will likely facilitate DHS’s efforts to create and distribute citizenship lists to states, which it is required to do under Section 2(a) of President Trump’s March 31, 2026 Executive Order 14399. Further, Republican-controlled states around the country will likely start using the expanded SAVE system to check the citizenship status of voters. We expect to see attempts to remove individuals identified as non-citizens through last minute list maintenance or potential voter challenges, regardless of the accuracy of the data. Notably, the SAVE system was not designed for this purpose and is rife with errors.
Federal law, however, provides some remaining protections. Courts across the country have unanimously blocked the Trump Administration’s efforts to compel states to provide voter lists that the federal government can run through the SAVE system. And as the Supreme Court’s decision recognized, the National Voter Registration Act prohibits states from carrying out programs to systematically remove ineligible voters from the rolls within 90 days of an election. The Supreme Court will decide whether that prohibition applies to removals of alleged non-citizens in RNC v. Mi Familia Vota, which will be argued on December 8, 2026. Elias Law Group represents Mi Familia Vota in that case and stands ready to defend voters against improper removals or challenges either now or in the aftermath of the 2026 election.
Please reach out to an Elias Law Group attorney for more information about today’s decision and its impact on the 2026 elections.