— The TSA on making sure an American treasure was preserved for World Cup tourists. It’s undefeated for a reason.
Elections
There’s No SAVE-ing This
What's going on: One of President Donald Trump's biggest election-related initiatives is back on ice. Yesterday, a federal judge blocked the administration from using an updated version of the SAVE database, a federal tool that helps states verify citizenship status. (Not to be confused with the SAVE America Act.) The admin had expanded the system last year by merging immigration records with Social Security data (what could go wrong?) to create a register that contains sensitive information on more than 60 million Americans. In her 75-page ruling, Judge Sparkle Sooknanan accused the government of “knowingly” trampling on Americans' right to privacy. She added that the database wasn’t always accurate, which caused states to unlawfully remove voters.
The bigger ballot battle: Trump has repeatedly argued that states need better tools to identify noncitizens at the polls, despite ample evidence that it’s extremely rare. Meanwhile, voting-rights groups warned that mistakes in the SAVE database would keep eligible Americans — especially naturalized citizens — from voting. Those concerns carry real weight: At least 25 states have already used the updated system to screen tens of millions of voter registrations. So while the federal government can appeal the decision, the database is just one part of the problem. Courts have repeatedly told Trump that election rules largely fall to Congress and the states to decide, not the White House. It isn’t just about who can access voter data, but who gets to set the rules in the first place.
