In win for Trump, U.S. Supreme Court lets states use revamped voter verification system
asserted
states → let → system
Lower-court judge had blocked the use of the tool, saying it violated Americans' privacy rights
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday lifted restrictions on a controversial federal voter database before November's elections, granting President Donald Trump a temporary win in his aggressive campaign against non-citizen voting.
asserted
Court → block → voting
The court's three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision.
asserted
justices → lean → decision
The emergency order allows states, for now, to use the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, in their efforts to verify the eligibility of voters on their rolls.
asserted
states → allow → rolls
But because existing law blocks most states from systematically purging voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election, the immediate impact on the upcoming midterms is likely limited.
asserted
impact → block → midterms
The court's order puts on hold a federal judge's June ruling that had deemed the Republican administration's recently revamped version of SAVE illegal.
asserted
version → put → SAVE
U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan had blocked the use of the tool, saying it violated Americans' privacy rights and could result in voters being wrongly removed from the rolls.
uncertain
voters → block → rolls
A federal appeals court declined to pause Sooknanan's ruling, prompting the administration's appeal to the Supreme Court.
asserted
court → decline → Court
CBC Explains
Trump's crusade against voting by mail: what you need to know
Trump removes remaining heads of Election Assistance Commission
The SAVE program was created under an immigration law mandating that DHS help federal, state and local agencies prevent government benefits from going to non-citizens.
asserted
agencies → explain → citizens
The Trump administration last year moved to significantly expand its search abilities.
asserted
administration → move → abilities
Since then, at least 67 million registrations have been scanned through the program, but critics worry it could end up purging valid voters from the rolls.
uncertain
it → scan → rolls
Some citizens wrongly flagged
Some registrants have already been wrongly flagged.
asserted
registrants → flag → ?
In Travis County, Texas, for example, officials said they investigated 97 voters flagged by SAVE as apparent non-citizens and found that at least 10 per cent of them — and likely up to 21 per cent — were U.S. citizens.
asserted
cent → say → them
The county urged the Supreme Court to reject the administration's appeal, while the state of Texas submitted its own brief defending the database.
asserted
state → urge → database
Even though the use of the SAVE program has been blocked for months, the administration said in court filings that DHS officials have continued using Social Security Administration data "in certain cases to verify information and help determine whether illegal voting may have occurred."
uncertain
voting → block → information
DHS in August launched its own investigation to find non-citizen voters on state rolls, according to a federal whistleblower statement that said the effort is rushed, filled with errors and potentially violates state laws.
uncertain
effort → launch → laws
DHS has defended that investigation as being conducted "diligently and professionally."
asserted
DHS → defend → investigation
The effort to create a national voter list is among numerous steps Trump has taken during his second term to try to overhaul the way elections are run.
asserted
elections → create → way
Most of those steps have been blocked by various courts, in part because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election rules but provides no such power to the president.
asserted
Constitution → block → president
In mid-September, the Supreme Court rejected a bid from Trump to restrict mail ballot procedures before the midterms.
asserted
Court → reject → midterms
Research shows that non-citizen voting, which is already illegal and punishable as a potential felony that could lead to deportation, is exceptionally rare.
uncertain
that → show → deportation
But Trump has remained fixated on the idea that massive numbers of non-citizens are voting in U.S. races.
asserted
numbers → remain → races
The Aporia
