The US Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-3 decision to lift restrictions on a controversial federal database, allowing the Trump administration to expand its use to verify voter citizenship ahead of November's midterm elections. The ruling reinstates a DHS program that allows states to use voters' personal information to review rolls for potential noncitizens.
President Donald Trump and his officials claim the expanded database aims to combat voting by noncitizens. The decision puts on hold a judge's finding that the government was misusing Social Security information and violating privacy rights. Three liberal-leaning justices publicly dissented from the decision.
Critics argue the administration is exaggerating the threat of noncitizen voters, which they describe as an extreme rarity in US elections, to implement policies that would disenfranchise likely Democratic voters. They contend the system could be used to scrub voter rolls, disenfranchise eligible voters, and potentially challenge election results.