Federal judge blocks Trump election plan in major legal blow to administration

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A federal judge has declared a recently updated federal tool, central to President Donald Trump’s election integrity strategy, unlawful and prohibited its continued use.

The ruling marks a significant blow to the administration’s efforts to combat alleged noncitizen voting.

U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan sided with advocacy groups who argued that the revamped program, known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), improperly collected sensitive personal data.

President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to reporters before signing two executive orders regarding quantum computing, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C (Reuters)

Critics warned this aggregation could lead to American citizens being wrongly removed from voter rolls.

“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,” Judge Sooknanan stated in her order. “This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens.”

She further noted that Congress had explicitly forbidden the centralization of Americans’ personal identifying information, and that the federal agencies involved were aware that the SAVE database violated these statutory protections.

Attendees hold signs advocating for voting rights and against the SAVE America Act at a rally to outside the U.S. Capitol on March 18 (Getty)

The decision represents a major legal setback for President Donald Trump, who has sought to leverage federal agencies for a nationwide crackdown on noncitizens on state voter rolls.

The modified SAVE system, which opponents labeled an unlawful centralized federal voter database, was a key component of the Republican president’s second election executive order issued earlier this year. Its future now remains uncertain.

Responding to the ruling, James Percival, general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, posted on social media: “It’s amazing how hard the Left will fight to stop us from solving problems they insist do not exist.” Calls to the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security for comment were not immediately returned.

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