Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Sep 9: The Trump administration has asked the US Supreme Court to allow federal authorities to use an expanded immigration database containing Social Security records to help states verify the citizenship of registered voters, a leading newspaper reported.

The emergency request comes less than two months before the November 3 midterm elections and follows rulings by a federal judge and an appeals court that prevented the administration from operating the expanded system, _The Washington Post_ reported.

At the centre of the dispute is the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements programme, commonly known as SAVE.

State and local authorities have traditionally used SAVE to determine whether applicants for government benefits and licences have qualifying immigration or citizenship status. Election officials have also used the system in some circumstances to examine voter eligibility.

According to _The Washington Post_, the administration expanded SAVE in May 2025 by adding information from the Social Security Administration and records concerning people who acquired US citizenship at birth. The move enabled election authorities to conduct broader searches of voter rolls.

President Donald Trump had directed the government to develop the system through an executive order aimed at what he described as protecting the integrity of American elections.

A federal judge in Washington blocked use of the expanded database in June, finding that the administration had unlawfully combined and repurposed personal information belonging to millions of Americans, the report said.

US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan also found that some states were using inaccurate information from the system to remove American citizens from their voter rolls. She concluded that the initiative violated privacy protections contained in the Social Security Act and other federal laws.

A federal appeals court last week declined to suspend her ruling while the litigation continued, prompting the administration to approach the Supreme Court.

_The Washington Post_ quoted Solicitor General D. John Sauer as calling the lower court's order "indefensible" and saying it "threatens the integrity of upcoming elections".