Supreme Court Upholds Use of Government Data to Identify Noncitizen Voter Registrations

The Supreme Court upheld President Trump's expanded use of government data to identify noncitizens registered to vote. The ruling, issued on Friday, followed an emergency appeal from Trump administration lawyers, which set aside a lower court's order that had blocked the use of this data due to concerns about its accuracy, particularly regarding naturalized citizens. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented, expressing concerns about potential errors. The decision allows states to utilize data from Social Security and other records to verify voter rolls, although federal law prohibits purging voter rolls close to elections. Voting rights advocates expressed concerns that the flawed data could lead to legal voters being targeted. The League of Women Voters called the decision 'profoundly disappointing,' while Common Cause President Virginia Kase Solomón emphasized the legal protections against mass voter removals before elections. In contrast, Florida State law professor Michael T. Morley argued that the ruling could enhance public confidence in election integrity. Several Republican-led states, including Texas and Florida, supported the administration's appeal, citing efficiency in verifying voter rolls. The court noted that the federal government has an obligation to respond to requests from state officials verifying voter citizenship. The administration claimed it could process over 1 million requests per day to check citizenship status. However, states are not mandated to conduct these searches, and the administration acknowledged that its data reports do not constitute final proof of citizenship. The justices also rejected an emergency appeal from Trump's lawyers regarding a separate issue related to mailed ballots. The ruling follows a history of legal challenges surrounding the administration's voter verification efforts, which critics argue rely on unreliable data that could infringe on voting rights.