Trump Officials Ask High Court to Allow Immigration Database for Voter Scrutiny

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Sept. 8, 2026 1:44 pm ET | Louise Radnofsky

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Emergency appeal turns up heat on Supreme Court, which is also considering the administration’s bid to change the rules for mail-in ballots

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal Tuesday that seeks the Supreme Court’s blessing to deploy a federal immigration database that it says could be used to root out people improperly registered to vote.

The effort stems from an executive order President Trump issued last year that directed the Department of Homeland Security to share information with state officials about voter eligibility and to compare states’ voter rolls with federal data.

The administration has built a verification system over the past 18 months that merged a database containing the citizenship status of immigrants along with Social Security information and other federal records.

Voting-rights groups challenged the expanded database in court, arguing it violated individuals’ privacy rights and produced inaccurate results. In June, a federal judge ruled the verification system was unlawful and ordered that it be disabled. Last week, a federal appeals court also ruled against the administration.

Solicitor General John Sauer filed the emergency request with the Supreme Court, saying the lower courts made it “harder to detect ineligible voters, undermining the integrity of federal elections and public confidence in the results of those elections.”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that vast numbers of ineligible people are registered to vote around the country, including noncitizens, fueling fears that he will question the validity of the midterm elections if Republicans lose.

State elections officials, including some Republicans, have responded that they...

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TOPICS: Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:

[Jeff Chandler]

This is a moment ripe with opportunity for Roberts to pull a McCain.

[MtnClimber]

And anyone obstructing should be convicted and jailed for voter fraud.

[Gay State Conservative]

In Massachusetts (and,IIRC,other states)...they have a policy where you can get a driver's license if you're not a citizen and when you get the license you're automatically registered to vote. So you can be damn sure that there are wetbacks voting in Massachusetts.

[Brian Griffin]

The House of Representatives could pass a simple rule, no person elected to be a member in an election that included more than .5% non-citizens may be seated or vote.

[drypowder]

And since the security and our Constitution depends on election security, Roberts will demonstrate exactly where his loyalty lies and it’s not with America. I hope I’m wrong but I would bet that Roberts will betray us again.

[gibsonguy]

The R do not have the stones to pass such a rule. Never happen.

[MtnClimber]

This will be an opportunity for justices to side with cheating or honesty. The way they vote will tell the story. The penalties for treason should be shown on national TV as a narritave for siding with evil or good.

[gibsonguy]

Trump has repeatedly claimed that vast numbers of ineligible people are registered to vote “

You can tell this hack from the WSJ wanted to include “without evidence” into that sentence.

[Bob Wills is still the king]

A data base that has never been validated, and a process that hasn’t been developed. We’re now only 59 days from the election and this looks like one more cluster.

[Fury]

All the more reason why some posters believe that President Trump will declare a national emergency and postpone the Federal elections to be held in November.