US Supreme Court OK’s Use of US Dept of Homeland Security Federal Citizenship Database in November Elections

On Friday the US Supreme Court gave a green light to the use of the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) federal citizenship database to verify voters ahead of the mid-term election in November. A ruling from a federal judge in Washington, DC blocked DHS from collecting individuals Social Security numbers, citizenship status and other private data in a searchable repository saying that it violated federal privacy laws.

However earlier this week in an emergency filing, DHS said the order threatened the integrity of the November elections by interfering with the federal government’s role in responding to states’ citizenship verification requests. The lower court ruling has been paused.

This dispute began in March when President Trump issued Executive Order 14248 which ordered Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to set up systems that would permit state and local governments to verify voters’ citizenship and immigration status.