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.
