The Trump administration scored a preliminary court victory on the election integrity battlefront when a Joe Biden-appointed judge at least temporarily allowed a citizenship verification database to continue to be accessible for states to cross check voter registration data. 

Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled she would not halt the Trump administration’s database reforms. Sooknanan gave both sides until Friday Nov. 21 to propose next steps in the case. 

“Given the rapid ongoing developments and serious issues at stake, the court intends to move expeditiously to resolve the merits of this dispute,” the ruling says. 

In March, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14248, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” that included a provision making the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE system accessible to state and local governments for uses such as cross-checking citizenship status of individuals using a Social Security number as a means to prevent illegal voting and voter registration. SAVE is short for the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements.

The national League of Women Voters was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed in September alleging the database information was unreliable and could be used to purge legally eligible voters from the voter rolls.

“Based on the current record, the court is troubled by the recent changes to SAVE and doubts the lawfulness of the Government’s actions. But because the Plaintiffs have not demonstrated irreparable injury, the Court may not grant a stay,” Sooknanan wrote. 

The Trump administration contends the database is an important tool for state and local governments to verify voter eligibility, public benefits and other matters.

“The SAVE program is the definitive tool for state and local officials to verify citizenship for voter verification and help determine public benefit eligibility,” USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser told The Daily Signal. “The judge’s ruling defeating the plaintiff’s request for a stay is a step in the right direction for the American people.”

The government has argued that the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 and other laws authorizes data sharing between DHS and the Social Security Administration. 

However, League of Women Voters spokeswoman Michelle Moreno contends the case is “far from over,” citing points from the judge’s ruling. 

“To the contrary, the court made clear that it ‘doubts the lawfulness of the government’s actions,’” Moreno noted, and later referencing other parts of the decision. “We look forward to swiftly resolving this case in order to protect the privacy and voting rights of millions of Americans whose data the administration is illegally misusing.”

The SAVE database was set up to allow states to check a person’s eligibility for public benefits. But the Trump administration’s changes made it use SAVE to verify citizenship and allowed state election officials to upload voter information in bulk–as opposed to checking Social Security numbers one by one. 

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