DOJ Requests Supreme Court Approval for Voter Verification System

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is requesting the Supreme Court of the United States to allow the government to implement an updated verification system, known as the SAVE program, aimed at removing foreign nationals and other ineligible voters from state voter rolls. Solicitor General John Sauer submitted a request to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, seeking to stay an order from Judge Sparkle Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden. In June, Sooknanan issued an order that prohibited the government from utilizing the updated Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, which had streamlined the process for states to purge voter rolls of ineligible individuals. Sauer described Sooknanan’s order as 'indefensible' and stated it 'threatens the integrity of upcoming elections' by limiting the federal government's ability to use Social Security data to verify the citizenship of individuals for voting and other purposes. He argued that the order would cause 'irreparable harm' to the federal government, states, and the public by depriving them of an effective tool for verifying voter eligibility. In her order, Sooknanan expressed concerns that the updated SAVE program 'implicates two fundamental rights that protect Americans from government overreach: the right to privacy and the right to vote,' asserting that the federal government has violated the privacy rights of American citizens in a way that threatens the right to vote. The case is titled League of Women Voters et al v. DHS, No. 26A in the Supreme Court.