Supreme Court Weighs Trump Bid to Expand Voter Verification

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to revive an expanded federal voter-verification database that a lower court blocked after voting-rights and privacy groups warned that inaccurate records could cause eligible citizens to be wrongly flagged as noncitizens. The Justice Department argues that the SAVE system only helps states confirm citizenship and cannot itself remove voters from registration rolls, while opponents say outdated government data could lead to disenfranchisement. The court is also weighing whether to let the administration implement new restrictions and eligibility standards for mail ballots, including expanded roles for the Postal Service, Homeland Security and the Justice Department. States, local election officials and voting-rights challengers argue that the federal government lacks authority to impose the rules and that rapid implementation could disrupt elections and prevent eligible voters from receiving ballots; the administration says the measures would strengthen election integrity. Separately, New Jersey is asking courts to subject election-related prediction markets to state gambling regulation, arguing that operators are improperly labeling wagers as financial products regulated exclusively by the federal commodities regulator. Together, the cases add several major disputes over election administration and voting access to the Supreme Court’s docket ahead of the midterm elections.