Democracy Docket

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials retracted Secretary Mullin’s threat in private meetings, stating that the department lacks statutory authority to charge state election officials.

“DHS officials walked back Mullin’s threat in private meetings, saying the department does not have the statutory authority to charge state election officials.”

The Supreme Court granted the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to stay a lower-court ruling despite warnings from the League of Women Voters and other advocates that the SAVE system is not designed for voter eligibility checks and will erroneously flag eligible voters.

“The Supreme Court granted the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to stay the lower-court ruling even though a coalition of voting and privacy advocates led by the League of Women Voters warned that SAVE was never designed to check voter eligibility and, when used this way, will erroneously flag eligible voters as noncitizens.”

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to pause the lower court’s injunction in September 2026.

“The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s emergency request to pause the lower court’s injunction earlier this month.”

Federal law currently bars states from conducting systematic voter purges during the 90-day "quiet period" before an election, as forbidden by the National Voter Registration Act.

“Currently, federal law bars states from conducting systematic voter purges, as the country is within what’s known as the “quiet period” — a 90-day window before an election when the National Voter Registration Act forbids systematic removals from the registration lists.”

In her dissent, Justice Jackson stated that the inclusion of Social Security numbers in the modified SAVE system explicitly violated confidentiality requirements of the law that created the SSA.

“In her dissent, Jackson said the inclusion of Social Security numbers in the modified SAVE system explicitly violated confidentiality requirements in the law that created the SSA.”

When Texas used the modified SAVE system in 2025, it identified 2,724 potential noncitizens on its voter registration list.

“When Texas became the first state to use it last year, it said the system identified “2,724 potential noncitizens” on its voter registration list.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration’s work on the SAVE system to continue, claiming it was "transformational" for Texas's election administration.

“Despite SAVE’s alarming error rate, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton urged the Supreme Court in a filing to allow the Trump administration’s work on the system to continue, claiming that it had been“transformational” for the state’s ability to administer elections.”

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) leadership has attempted to force states to use the SAVE system for voter rolls by conditioning federal disaster and anti-terrorism funding on its use.

“While the DOJ has asserted that SAVE is legal because it’s a voluntary tool, DHS leadership has attempted to force states to run their voter rolls through it by conditioning federal disaster and anti-terrorism funding on the database’s use.”

The Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority lifted a lower-court order that had found the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) modification and use of the SAVE system violated American citizens' privacy rights and threatened voting rights.

“The Court’s Republican-appointed majority lifted a lower-court order that found the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) modification and use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE) system “trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote.””

The Supreme Court's decision on Friday, September 25, 2026, represents a significant loss for voters, especially naturalized citizens who have been disproportionately falsely flagged as ineligible by the SAVE system.

In her 12-page dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson emphasized that the Supreme Court majority’s decision created conditions for some states to cancel voter registrations of recently naturalized citizens or force them to provide proof of citizenship before voting.

President Trump’s executive order prompted the Department of Homeland Security to overhaul the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, which local, state, and tribal agencies had long used to check citizenship and immigration status for benefits and licenses.

“However, in the 2025 executive order, Trump directed DHS to transform the database into a sweeping tool to vet state voter rolls.”

The Supreme Court majority concluded that a lower-court ruling blocking the Trump administration's voter screening system was improper because it inhibited federal government efforts to assist state and local agencies in midterm election administration.

Donald Trump's first executive order restricting voting, issued in March 2025, was blocked by three federal judges across three separate cases.

“The decision lets the administration move forward with a key provision of President Donald Trump’s 2025 anti-voting executive order, much of which courts have permanently blocked.”

The Trump administration's use of passport data for voter citizenship checks would significantly expand its efforts to control elections by marshalling federal data.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that officers could be deployed to polling places if a 'specific threat' exists.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that federal agents could be present at polls if they were serving a warrant on a person they had been actively tracking.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that federal officers could be deployed to polling places if a "specific threat" existed.