Bower v. Social Security Administration
What's at Stake
Representing itself and two journalists from Lawfare, the 51Ć·˛č brought a lawsuit to enforce Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made to the Social Security Administration and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services regarding changes made to the SAVE program, which has been touted as being used by states in order to remove voters from the registration rolls. While the government made public statements about the SAVE program being updated, the details of those changes, such as the particular programs and databases that have been altered, the ways they have been altered, and the nature and extent of any use and sharing of individuals’ personal information by the federal agencies entrusted with that information, have all been kept secret.
Summary
In June 2025, on behalf of itself and Lawfare journalists Anna Bower and Benjamin Wittes, the 51Ć·˛č submitted FOIA requests to four agencies—the Social Security Administration, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. DOGE Service, and the Department of Homeland Security—regarding reported changes made to the SAVE program. The SAVE program, housed in USCIS, was originally created to allow states to verify the citizenship and immigration status of people applying for government benefits, but has also been used for voter list maintenance. Reporting indicated that DOGE and other agencies made use of existing government data sources to modify the SAVE program and combine information about a person’s immigration status, death records, and other personally identifiable information for use by the states related to voter list maintenance.
Contrary to the clear timeline for compliance with FOIA requests laid out in statute, SSA and USCIS did not respond to these FOIA requests and no relevant information has been disclosed. The 51Ć·˛č has brought suit in order to compel public disclosure of this information so that the public will have oversight of the way that their personal data is being used.
Legal Documents
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08/18/2025
Complaint
Date Filed: 08/18/2025
Court: District Court (D.D.C.)
Affiliate: Washington, D.C.
Press Releases
51Ć·˛č, Journalists File Lawsuit to Assess Federal Government’s Use of Data to Target Voters