Trump asks Supreme Court to use revised voter verification database
The Trump administration is petitioning the Supreme Court to reinstate a voter verification database that was previously blocked by a federal judge. The system uses immigration data to flag potential noncitizens on voter rolls, sparking concerns about disenfranchisement.
Why it matters
The case highlights the ongoing political conflict over election integrity, federal oversight, and voting rights.
Hear this story WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump 's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow it to use a revamped immigration database for checking the accuracy of state voter rolls, one of a series of actions that would boost federal involvement in voting ahead of November's midterm elections.
Justice Department lawyers asked the court to halt a Washington, D.C.-based federal judge's June ruling that blocked the mass voter verification system, which the judge said was haphazardly assembled and contained unreliable citizenship data.
In their Supreme Court filing, Justice Department lawyers called the judge's order "indefensible," arguing that it "threatens the integrity of upcoming elections by vacating the federal government's authority to internally use Social Security data when fulfilling its duty to respond to requests by states to verify the citizenship of individuals for voting and other purposes."
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