A federal judge has handed down a significant ruling that could affect how states verify voter eligibility, siding with several states in a legal dispute over a key federal immigration database.
The decision comes after months of courtroom battles over whether the federal government improperly disabled tools that states say are critical for maintaining accurate voter rolls.
U.S. District Judge T. Kent Wetherell II on Tuesday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to restore several key features of its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, including Social Security number search and bulk-upload capabilities used by states to verify citizenship and immigration status.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Florida and several other states after DHS disabled the features in June following a separate federal court decision in Washington, D.C.
Wetherell concluded that DHS violated a court-approved settlement agreement reached with the states in November 2025 by removing the capabilities.
“Defendants are plainly in violation of the settlement agreement,” Wetherell wrote in his order.
The judge noted that the verification tools had been functioning from December 2025 until June before they were shut down.
The dispute arose after U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that modifications made to the SAVE system violated both the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act by improperly aggregating and using Americans’ personal information, including Social Security numbers.
Following that ruling, DHS disabled the enhanced verification features.
Florida and the other plaintiff states quickly returned to court, arguing that the move breached the earlier settlement agreement and immediately hampered their ability to verify voter eligibility and administer other state programs.
Wetherell agreed.
He rejected DHS’s argument that complying with the Washington, D.C., court order excused its obligations under the settlement approved by his court.
According to Wetherell, his court had already determined the challenged modifications were lawful when it approved the agreement.
The judge also addressed the underlying legal questions.
He concluded that the Social Security number search functions are consistent with federal immigration law, specifically 8 U.S.C. § 1373, which governs the sharing of citizenship and immigration status information.
He further found that the challenged features fall within recognized exceptions under the Privacy Act.
The states argued the loss of the verification tools had already caused significant operational problems.
According to court filings, Florida and Ohio said they could no longer efficiently verify the citizenship status of individuals registered to vote.
Iowa also told the court the disabled features affected its ability to verify eligibility for certain professional licenses.
Wetherell declined to delay enforcement of his order while litigation continues in Washington, writing that the plaintiff states were suffering ongoing harm.
He also concluded that principles of judicial comity did not require his court to defer to the separate proceedings.
The SAVE system has long been used by federal, state and local agencies to verify immigration status for government benefits and other public programs.
Under the Trump administration, the system was expanded to include additional capabilities intended to help states verify citizenship more efficiently for voter registration maintenance and election integrity efforts.
Tuesday’s ruling does not resolve the broader legal dispute over the SAVE system, which remains the subject of litigation in federal courts, Florida’s Voice reported.
However, unless overturned on appeal, DHS must now restore the features required under the settlement agreement approved by Wetherell, allowing participating states to once again use the expanded verification tools while the broader legal battle continues.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
