The Supreme Court has handed President Donald Trump precious few losses over its last two terms. On Monday, though, five justices voted to block the Republican National Committee’s efforts to limit the window for counting absentee ballots in federal elections. It’s a common sense decision, something that has been exceedingly rare on the court in recent years, that allows states to count ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward. But common sense hasn’t stopped Trump’s outlandish demands before, so it’s hard to see that changing now.
In 2020, Pennsylvania Republicans attempted to challenge ballots that came in after Election Day, but a deadlocked Supreme Court ultimately allowed those votes to be counted. The Republican National Committee opted to try again in 2024, this time joining the Mississippi State GOP in challenging its state’s law providing a five-day grace period for ballots postmarked on Election Day to be considered valid. In doing so, the Republican plaintiffs claimed, Mississippi ignored federal laws that set Election Day as the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, not whenever the ballots were received.
Among the arguments in the RNC’s initial lawsuit also brought was that because more Democrats vote by mail than Republicans, it offers them an unfair advantage.
It’s a novel claim, especially when you consider it is primarily Trump’s fault that mail-in balloting is now considered a partisan issue.
This is a preview of a column by Hayes Brown. Read the full column here.
