SAVE-ing Face

Good afternoon. This is the Final NOTUS newsletter for June 22, 2026. You can get it in your inbox every day by signing up here — it’s free!

THE LATEST

Donald Trump’s administration can’t use the version of the voter verification system that allowed state officials to mistakenly purge potential non-citizens from rolls, federal judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan ruled today. Updates to the Homeland Security Department’s SAVE system allowed states to run bulk searches of voter rolls against an expanded set of Social Security records — a “haphazardly combined,” unreliable data set, the judge wrote in her 75-page ruling.

The court ruled that the modified database, implemented last year, violates SSN confidentiality protections and bypassed required procedures. Naturalized citizens were mistakenly removed, and DHS itself has acknowledged that the data may be inaccurate and out of date.

• “All in all, the federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote,” wrote Sooknanan, a Joe Biden appointee.
• In a separate case, a federal judge tossed yet another DOJ lawsuit seeking voter roll data, this time from Maryland. Attempts to access data in nine states have failed so far.

The administration is threatening to withhold homeland security funding from states unless they adopt a sweeping set of election changes, including requiring use of the SAVE database, CNN reports.

Iran has agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency into the country, JD Vance announced today. The U.S. and Qatar will also approve specific Iranian assets to unfreeze, stipulating that the funds be used to buy American soy, corn and wheat for Iran — an idea Vance said originated with Jared Kushner.

THE ADMINISTRATION

Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) filed another motion seeking to fully restore the Kennedy Center name after workers removing Trump’s name left up scaffolding to obscure the signage.

• “It would send a particularly concerning message to reward Appellants after their gamesmanship, after their poison-pill gambit, and while they are still hanging a tarp over the Kennedy Center’s restored facade in petulant defiance,” Beatty wrote.

THE COURTS

A federal judge blocked the DOJ’s “blatantly unlawful” attempts to subpoena Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison and others over their roles in the Trump administration’s sweeping Minneapolis immigration operation this winter.

The Supreme Court has left in place a ruling that strikes a key Voting Rights Act enforcement tool that allows voters with a disability or an inability to read or write to receive help voting from a person of their choice.

Todd Blanche and Jeanine Pirro can stay on the case against the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting suspect, a federal judge ruled. The suspect’s lawyers argued the top DOJ officials were conflicted by their attendance at the dinner, but Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, said they were not likely to be trial witnesses nor can be defined as victims.

THE HILL

House lawmakers unveiled a new package holding social media companies accountable for kids’ experiences on the platform, an effort helmed by Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Kentucky) and Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey). Democrats slammed a previous version during negotiations several months ago, saying some provisions didn’t go far enough in protecting minors.

MISTAKEN ID?

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