In blow to Trump, federal judge blocks DHS from using citizenship database to purge voters

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Source: Democracy Docket

A federal judge in Washington D.C. blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using its citizenship database to remove voters from registration rolls, striking a significant blow against President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional attempt to take control of federal elections.

In her decision Monday, District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan excoriated Trump and DHS’s implementation of his March 25 executive order for ignoring federal privacy laws as they overhauled the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system into a faulty citizenship checker.

“All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan wrote. “This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”

The League of Women Voters led a coalition of voting and privacy advocates in challenging the changes to SAVE last year, suing DHS, the Social Security Administration (SSA) and other federal actors. While Sooknanan declined to issue a stay last November, she granted a summary judgment Monday, saying that the modification of the SAVE system violated the Social Security Act’s prohibition on disclosing social security numbers, various provisions of the 1974 Privacy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).

Read more: https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-blow-to-trump-federal-judge-blocks-dhs-from-using-citizenship-database-to-purge-voters/

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In blow to Trump, federal judge blocks DHS from using citizenship database to purge voters
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

— Jacob Knutson (@jaknutson.bsky.social) 2026-06-22T18:14:13.777Z

[pat_k]

1. I was very surprised she didn't issue the stay.

It is so obviously an attempt to illegally purge eligible voters -- particularly young people who are mobile and often don't update SS info.

The summary judgment is crystal clear and very gratifying.

May the decision hold as it makes its way to the six black-robed traitors.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. The federal election is still a couple of months away and so there is no need for immediate stay

[Mme. Defarge]

2. A good outcome

for my daily hope scrolling!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Blistering new ruling finds Trump's agencies 'knowingly trampled' on a sacred right

This opinion made me smile

The White House’s revamped voter-citizenship database has been ruled illegal. A federal judge noted that the centralized system illegally swept up the private data of millions of Americans, wrongly flagging many U.S. citizens as non-citizens.

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-06-22T19:05:37Z

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-voter-fraud-2677076169

A federal judge on Monday struck down the Trump administration's revamped voter-citizenship database, ruling that federal agencies broke the law by building a centralized system that swept up the private data of millions of Americans and wrongly flagged U.S. citizens as non-citizens.

In a sharply worded opinion, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan vacated the 2025 overhaul of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system, along with two related privacy notices issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. She found the changes violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act

"[T]he federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote," Sooknanan wrote. "This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens."

The overhaul followed President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order on elections that expanded SAVE to include records of natural-born citizens, tap Social Security data including SSNs, as well as let states run their entire voter rolls through the system in bulk.

The judge, an appointee of President Joe Biden, noted internal records showed the agencies knew the database was "not in compliance" with the Privacy Act and that accuracy shortfalls "could cause incomplete or false results." Naturalized citizens with outdated Social Security files were among those wrongly flagged as non-citizens, with some forced to prove citizenship within 30 days or lose their registrations. An investigation in one Texas county found a quarter of the system's "non-citizen matches" were people who had already proven citizenship, the court filing detailed.

Here is a link to the 75-page opinion
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.285454/gov.uscourts.dcd.285454.111.0_1.pdf

[FakeNoose]

5. Thank you Judge Sparkle Sooknanan!

Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkle_L._Sooknanan



How wonderful that these federal judges are standing up to Chump and ruling in favor of preserving our rights!

[drray23]

6. Very good outcome

But I fear, as in most juducial decisions, a bit late. It's very likely Trump's goons have already misused the data and its out in the wild.

[calimary]

8. Gotta say, this is only like an infected boil as long as Donald's around to aggravate things.

I find it helpful to remind myself that the Donald WILL NOT last forever. Repeat: WILL NOT!

That “side of the aisle” may not have fully grasped that yet. He WON’T be around for very much longer. And there’s already gossip and talk about how much weaker and more beset with problems he is - compared to 10 years ago.

There are some, maybe many, in the GOP who are already looking and scheming ahead to the next rounds of elections. Already planning. Already searching the field for “the next Donald”, or, hell, the next Whoever to come along and out-Reagan Reagan.

I hope to God our Dems are looking at the long game, planning, AND recruiting, too. They damn well better be.

[GiqueCee]

7. HA!

How do YOU like it up there, you evil fuck?