A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in a 2-1 decision, upheld a lower court’s injunction that prevents the Trump administration from utilizing the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to verify citizenship records on state voter rolls ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Judge Robert Wilkins, both appointed by former President Barack Obama, determined that employing the SAVE system would violate the Social Security Act due to the dissemination of private information belonging to millions of Americans. The judges also expressed concerns that inaccurate citizenship data could compel voters to prove their status to maintain registration, with the potential for some registrations to be canceled.

Judge Gregory Katsas, appointed by President Donald Trump, dissented from the majority opinion. The ruling maintains the status quo established by a prior federal judge in Florida, who had initially halted the nationwide use of the SAVE database for voter verification but subsequently ordered DHS to resume providing access to the system for four Republican-led states. The decision is significant as it preserves the existing legal framework surrounding the use of federal immigration data for voter roll maintenance in the lead-up to a critical election where Trump’s Republican party seeks to defend narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. Read more at Yahoo News

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