Trump Asks Supreme Court To Let Database Decide Citizenship
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Sept. 8 to restore its expanded SAVE database, a federal system combining immigration and Social Security records so states can inspect voter rolls with the dependable precision of a supermarket self-checkout accusing customers of concealing cilantro. Lower courts blocked the program after voting-rights groups argued that it violated privacy laws and could misidentify eligible citizens. Solicitor General John Sauer countered that election integrity is too important to be entrusted to accurate information when a larger database can produce more official-looking mistakes.
President Donald Trump praised SAVE for its innovative ability to protect Americans from voting while American. “The computer is perfect, absolutely perfect, and if it says you’re not a citizen, maybe you should think very strongly about why the computer doesn’t like you,” Trump said. “Computers know things. Many people tell me they’re much better citizens than people, frankly.” Under the administration’s streamlined definition of due process, voters flagged by SAVE may prove their existence to several government agencies, locate decades-old paperwork and correct mismatched records before a local election clerk finishes lunch. Officials said legitimate citizens have nothing to fear except clerical errors, outdated files, data breaches, inaccessible documents, duplicate names and removal from the rolls.
The system also advances the traditional conservative goal of preventing federal overreach by constructing a giant federal citizenship database containing sensitive information on nearly everyone. Critics say documented errors could disenfranchise lawful voters, but that objection misunderstands the program’s purpose: SAVE does not determine whether its records match reality; reality must submit documentation showing that it matches SAVE. The Supreme Court will therefore decide whether voting is a constitutional right or a customer-service dispute conducted through drop-down menus, automated notices and a telephone line experiencing unusually high call volume. Citizenship is now whatever the database says it is.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.