The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to use an expanded federal database that includes citizenship information, as the president pushes states to clean up voter rolls. The court’s 6-3 decision, with conservatives in the majority, came after the government requested an emergency ruling following lower court decisions that found the administration’s changes to the database were likely unlawful. The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program was created in 1986 by Congress to help government agencies quickly determine an individual’s immigration status when they apply for benefits like Social Security. The Trump administration expanded the program after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025, requiring agencies to take steps to ensure only U.S. citizens vote in elections. The expansion included adding data from the Social Security Administration, enabling searches using Social Security numbers and allowing bulk searches of voter records. Critics argue the expanded database is unreliable and could mistakenly remove U.S. citizens from voter rolls. However, the Supreme Court noted in its unsigned ruling that the National Voter Registration Act prevents states from broadly purging voters in the weeks before an election, which limits the immediate impact of the decision this year. States can still perform individual checks on voters. The court also stated that federal law requires the government to respond to requests from states for citizenship information. It criticized the lower court’s decision, saying it prevented the government from using the system it believes is best suited for verifying voters. In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson argued the government had not shown enough reason to block the lower court’s ruling. She emphasized that the potential harm to lawful voters outweighs any perceived benefit from the expanded database. Reports from ProPublica and the Texas Tribune indicated that some local officials found errors in the system, with many of the flagged individuals being newly naturalized citizens. Texas was among the first states to run its full voter rolls through the expanded SAVE database, but only three people have been charged with illegal voting by noncitizens. Opponents, led by the League of Women Voters, filed a lawsuit claiming the new system violates several federal laws, including the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act. A federal judge blocked the plan, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed. The Trump administration’s Solicitor General, D. John Sauer, argued that the lower court’s decision threatened the integrity of upcoming elections by preventing the government from helping states verify voter citizenship. Opponents warn that the expanded database could create extra administrative burdens for newly naturalized citizens who might be asked to prove their status after being flagged. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare, and all states are already required to maintain voter rolls under federal law. The Supreme Court’s unsigned decision suggested that claims from voting rights groups about the legality of the modified database likely lack merit. The court stated that the federal government has a duty to respond to requests from state and local officials seeking to verify voter citizenship. It criticized the lower court’s decision, saying it hindered the government’s efforts to assist in the administration of midterm elections. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. The expanded database is part of President Trump’s broader initiative to investigate alleged widespread noncitizen voting in federal elections, a claim that has been largely debunked. Voting rights groups argue the system provides inaccurate data, leading to wrongful cancellations of voter registrations.