Law360: Justices Told DHS Voter Citizenship Database ‘Unprecedented’

“The League of Women Voters, along with privacy watchdog the Electronic Privacy Information Center, urged the high court in a response brief to deny the administration’s emergency request to stay a Washington, D.C., federal judge’s summary judgment order that set aside upgrades DHS and the Social Security Administration made to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database.”

“‘Between SAVE’s creation in 1986 and 2005, DHS and SSA never claimed (and in fact disavowed) the power to use SAVE for verifying the citizenship status of natural-born citizens, let alone the power to do so free of all constraints imposed by federal privacy laws,’ they said. ‘The ‘lack of historical precedent’ for the agencies’ actions, ‘coupled with the breadth of authority that they now claim, is a “telling indication”‘ that the SAVE modifications ‘extend beyond the agencies’ legitimate reach.'”

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