Even while they were short one justice (at least until this morning), the Supremes managed to muster a 5-3 vote along ideological lines last night in the case of Democratic National Committee v. Wisconsin State Legislature. This case was strikingly similar to a previous appeal coming out of Pennsylvania where the justices deadlocked in a 4-4 tie. The Wisconsin state DNC had been pushing to allow mail-in ballots to be counted if they arrived as much as six days after the polls closed on election day. A lower court had shot down that plan and Chief Justice John Roberts joined the four conservative justices in refusing to overturn their decision. The lower court’s ruling will now stand and the late ballots will not be accepted. (NBC News)
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Wisconsin cannot count mail ballots that arrive well after the polls close, under an order issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court, a defeat for Democrats in a battleground state.
Buy a vote of 5-3, the justices declined to lift a lower court ruling preventing the state from counting mail ballots that arrive as much as six days after election day. Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan said they would have granted the request.
Voting rights groups, the state and national Democratic parties, and the League of women Voters filed lawsuits seeking to extend the deadline for accepting mail-in ballots. They said the flood of absentee ballots and problems arising from the pandemic make it harder for voters to receive their mail ballots and return them on time.
