Appeals Court Keeps DHS Voter Check Tool Blocked in 2-1 Vote as Privacy Fight Intensifies
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 5
Appeals Court Keeps DHS Voter Check Tool Blocked in 2-1 Vote as Privacy Fight Intensifies
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 5
Summary
A 2-1 D.C. Circuit panel refused Friday to restore a DHS system that would let states compare voter rolls against federal citizenship and Social Security data.
The majority said DHS had not shown the tool could operate lawfully without violating federal privacy protections for Social Security information, keeping the system offline for now.
Judges said they will issue a fuller ruling on the underlying legal questions within 10 days, with the administration pressing to deploy the tool before November's midterm elections, now less than 60 days away.
The dispute stems from a June lower-court ruling that repurposing an immigration-status database for election monitoring likely broke federal disclosure laws; the panel also faulted DHS for raising new legal arguments only after that loss.
The setback adds to broader court resistance to Trump's election-order push after a Massachusetts judge separately blocked Postal Service voter-eligibility checks tied to mail ballots earlier Friday.
Why did a federal court block a major homeland security database from scanning voter rolls just weeks before the November elections?
How will state election officials navigate conflicting federal court orders over access to sensitive citizenship data as midterm deadlines rapidly approach?