Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the federal government to keep giving Texas and other states access to expanded federal citizenship information used to verify voter eligibility while litigation continues, according to a Sept. 28 news release.
The case concerns the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, known as SAVE, which the U.S. Department of Homeland Security operates. The release said President Donald Trump previously expanded the system to strengthen state and local election officials’ ability to verify citizenship status on voter rolls, and that the system had been substantially more limited before the expansion.
According to the attorney general’s office, activist groups sued to block the modified SAVE system. Paxton intervened in the case in April 2026 to defend Texas’s use of the system, arguing that access advances the state’s interests in maintaining accurate voter rolls, preventing illegal votes and ensuring fair and accurate elections, the release said. His office said he also defended the federal government’s authority to operate the modified system and argued that the plaintiffs lacked valid grounds to keep Texas from accessing the information.
In June, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against the federal government and Texas and set aside the modified SAVE program, the release said. After an appeal, the Supreme Court stayed the district court’s judgment, allowing the modified system to resume while the litigation proceeds.
The attorney general’s office said the Supreme Court concluded that the plaintiffs’ claims likely lack merit and emphasized that federal law requires the Department of Homeland Security to respond to state and local government inquiries about citizenship or immigration status verification.
Paxton called the ruling a win for the integrity of elections and the democratic process, according to the release. He said Texas must be able to keep using resources that help keep its elections fair and secure.
The lawsuit remains pending, the release said, and the stay allows Texas to continue using the modified system in the meantime.