Judge Blocks Use of Federal Database to Verify Voter Citizenship
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
A U.S. judge ruled on Monday that a recently updated version of a federal tool, which is central to the government's electoral integrity strategy, is illegal and can no longer be used. Federal Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with activist groups that argued the recent enhancements to the program, known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), added sensitive personal data of Americans in a way that could lead to voters being wrongly removed from the electoral rolls. 'Ultimately, the federal government has willfully trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,' Sooknanan stated in an order explaining her decision. 'This court cannot sit idly by while that occurs.' She noted that Congress had explicitly prohibited the government from centralizing personally identifiable information of Americans, and that the federal agencies that created the SAVE program 'knew that the database violates those legal protections.' The decision represents a significant legal setback for President Donald Trump in his efforts to use federal agencies to launch a nationwide offensive against non-citizens illegally listed on state voter rolls. The modified SAVE system, which critics had labeled as a centralized and illegal federal database of voter information, had been a key pillar of the second electoral executive order the president signed earlier this year. The ruling leaves its future uncertain. 'It’s incredible how hard the left will fight to prevent us from solving problems they insist don’t exist,' said James Percival, General Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in a social media post regarding the ruling. The DHS referred to that post as its comment on the ruling. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment at this time.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
