Deadline Legal Blog-Supreme Court sides 5-4 against Republicans to uphold mail-in ballot grace periods

[LetMyPeopleVote]

It’s the high court’s latest election-related ruling ahead of the November midterms.

In a win for voting rights, the Supreme Court says mail-in ballots received after election day WILL count.

www.ms.now/deadline-whi...

— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-06-29T14:24:19.385Z

https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/supreme-court-mississippi-mail-ballots-watson

The Supreme Court sided against Republicans on Monday in the court’s latest election-related ruling ahead of the November midterm elections, in a decision that will allow late-arriving mail ballots to be counted.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote the opinion for a 5-4 court, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three Democratic appointees, over dissent from Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Rejecting a GOP challenge, Barrett said federal election laws don’t pre-empt Mississippi’s law that has a five-day grace period for counting ballots that are postmarked by Election Day.

According to the Voting Rights Lab, 30 states have mail ballot grace periods for at least some voters: 14 states and Washington, D.C., have them for all mail ballots, while 16 more states have them specifically for military and overseas voters.....

The Trump administration supported the GOP’s challenge, as President Donald Trump has railed against mail ballots while making unproven voter fraud claims. At the March hearing, Mississippi’s lawyer said the federal government has “sounded the anti-fraud theme” but couldn’t show “a single example of fraud from post-Election Day ballot receipt in this century.”

[bucolic_frolic]

1. The bright side, we'll still be able to hear how the elections were all RIGGED!!!! /nt

[DFW]

2. Still too close for comfort

Gorsuch and Kavanaugh will still caress the hand that nominated them as long as they can contort that square Constitution into their round sewer pipe. Thomas and Alito live there anyway, so it’s not like they lacked a welcoming committee.

[BigDemVoter]

3. Right!

I was just about to say the same thing. We don’t even need to see who the 4 members were….. So vile….

[lapucelle]

4. Was this a Mark Elias case? N/T

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. This was one of Marc's cases

Link to tweet

[standingtall]

6. If it weren't absentee ballots being counted Alito wouldn't even be on the Supreme Court

Gore was ahead in 2000 and most networks called the election for him. Then Bush said wait until the absentee ballots come in
and after Bush to the lead the Supreme Court stop the recount that Gore would've won. Bush then appointed Alito. I hate this Supreme Court.

[Whip-poor-will]

7. It's called throwing them a bone

Amy, acquiring her judicial temperament on the job training.

When it comes to sticking it to the constitution you can count on her .

She never had the experience to earn a seat , her supremacist ideology got her appointed.

[hookaleft]

8. I truly expect the administration to seize ballots and stop the counting

In November. I just last night watched a video with Rob Bonta where he stated that he expected to have to call out the California National Guard to protect the election