SCOTUS holds states can count late-arriving mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day

[In It to Win It]

First (but *not* last) ruling from #SCOTUS today is in Watson v. RNC. For a 5-4 majority (with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, Kavanaugh dissenting), Justice Barrett holds that federal law does *not* bar states from counting late-arriving mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day.

— Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social) 2026-06-29T14:02:49.360Z

[Aviation Pro]

1. Good

Looks like even the confirmed rapist’s appointees are tired of the fuckwad’s shit.

[hlthe2b]

2. WOW... Hate to say it ordinarily, but thank you Amy Coney Barrett

This is good news in a sea of bad lately.

[riversedge]

4. Amy Barrett has had a couple of ruling which favored The People IMHO--but admit I already forget which ones.

[RoeVWade]

7. Maybe Trump will alienate some more women with a typical nasty comment. Would be a win for us.

Weird but seems true.

[PatSeg]

10. Yes, she has come across as a bit more

moderate and reasonable. In the meantime, we can pretty much guarantee that Alito and Thomas will be as extreme as possible.

[ShazzieB]

44. Oh, yes, T and A, as I like to call them, will ALWAYS be as extreme as possible.

I also like to call them the Gruesome Twosome (among other, less PG rated things).

I hope they both drop dead on January 21, 2029, the day after our new Democratic president gets sworn in. (A girl can dream, okay? )

[PatSeg]

46. I'll be happy with an age or health related retirement

They are both old enough and Thomas barely looks alive anyway (though he's always looked like that I suppose).

"T and A"!!!

[SheltieLover]

3. Ketchup will be flying...

[kentuck]

5. It appears that Amy Coney Barret has become the deciding vote on this Supreme Court.

And we will take our victories wherever we can get them.

This was a big vote and ketchup is running down the walls near the Oval Office.

[kentuck]

6. Does this ruling shoot down the proposed SAVE Act...

...before it is passed?

[Sympthsical]

8. No

The Court's interpretation here was purely based on current statute law about elections.

Congress can still change those laws.

[kentuck]

12. But this is the law until Congress votes to change it?

Right?

Then it could be challenged in Court?

[In It to Win It]

16. Yes, this is law until Congress passes new law that changes it.

[Ms. Toad]

13. Congress can still try to change those laws.

Whether they are legally permitted to remains an open question.

[Sympthsical]

19. Yeah, the SAVE Act would absolutely end up in front of the Court

100%

[homegirl]

20. Would that require

fifty one votes or sixty six + votes in the Senate, and would it also not have to be passed by the House?

[Ms. Toad]

26. Currently the SAVE act is being blocked by the Senate,

where they don't have enough votes for cloture (60 votes), to end a the filibuster and likely don't have enough (50+1) even if they overcome the filibuster.

The House has already passed the SAVE act. So if it passes the Senate, we're done.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. But what about the post office refusing to mail ballots in states that don't supply dump with the voter lists

[PatSeg]

11. I believe this is being challenged

Not sure about the details though. I'm on overload right now.

[paleotn]

25. Blocked by Federal Court judge last week.

In short, "Your job is to deliver the damn mail. Nothing else."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/25/judge-blocks-trump-bid-restrict-mail-ballots
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/25/trump-executive-order-mail-voting-blocked-00975844

[CurtEastPoint]

35. AMAZING! Thanks!

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

14. WTF. This should be a fucking no brainer since the vote was cast during an election.

Let me make this in a sports analogy, since that is all most people understand these days. If I toss a basketball during a game and it makes the basket before the game ends, the score counts! Duh.

[MichMan]

30. Some areas keep the post office open until midnight

Meaning people were allowed to mail ballots after in person voting sites were closed

[Initech]

15. Wow, a rare SCOTUS decision not in favor of the Murdoch Ministry Of Propaganda! What's next?

[MustLoveBeagles]

37. A good ruling

Shocker, but I'll take it.

[Initech]

38. Well, we got to take whatever wins we can get!

This war is far from over. Fuck Trump, fuck SCOTUS, and fuck Fox News!

[MustLoveBeagles]

40. I'm in agreement

With everything you said. B

[EnergizedLib]

17. I'm going to guess they pull nonsense on birthright citizenship

You know how it goes with this corrupt court. For every decision that goes our way, there are nine which don’t.

[Blumancru]

18. State CAN count them or MUST count them?

There is a big difference between the two, and I bet there will be a big difference between the way red and blue states handle late arriving ballots.

[MichMan]

22. It depends on state laws

Those that allow it based on postmarks can continue to do so. Those that don't aren't forced to.

[kirby]

21. Just 'forget' to postmark ones in blue districts...

That is my prediction.

[MichMan]

23. Or someone will come up with their own copy of a postmark.

[yellowcanine]

24. But will the post office post mark them?

Seems like potential for som “mischief” there.

[malaise]

27. Good

Rec

[MoseShrute]

28. Bottom line

If at all possible, get that ballot completed and put in the mail ASAP. There will always be some weird situations where that isn’t possible, but those should be exceptions.

[bucolic_frolic]

29. This jives with contract law - postmark dates a contract

Now the GOP can focus on getting the USPS to slow down delivery.

[crud]

31. This would have been a no brainer to probably every other Supreme Court.

Up until the Bush V Gore ruling, they always made the voter and the right to vote paramount.

[popsdenver]

41. That 2000 election,

was the second time the Republican's Supreme Court allowed a decision that should have been challenged BIG TIME.
Voting was a States Right. The U.S. Supreme Court had absolutely NO LEGAL RIGHT to intervene in the Florida Election Re-count. But the Supremes came in, stopped the re-count, dictated by Florida Law, because they suspected that it would show Gore the Winner.............
The worst part is, that once the Supreme Court corruptly and illegally pulled that off, it forever established a precedent for them to use from then on. Allowing them to use it to corruptly and illegally use it as a precedent to interject themselves into elections for ever more.........................

The first time was when HWBush and his CABAL committed treason to throw the election to "installing" Reagan.........

[Soul_of_Wit]

43. The Extreme Court has the "shadow docket"

Maybe they should have a "self-evident" docket. The slang name would be the "no duh" docket.

[MichMan]

32. Why would anyone wait until election day to use a mail in ballot?

They are sent out weeks ahead of time.

[SSJVegeta]

34. The undersranding used to be because it would be counted and also because things change dramatically (esp in primaries)

Before election day. But in general elections quite frankly, people need to turn that thing in as soon as they get it. And also theres a good chance the government will do everything they can to not count our votes so sooner is always better no matter what at this point.

[Soul_of_Wit]

39. An actual example usage of "procrastinate" from Merriam-Webster.com

Natomas resident Sarah Arizaga, 46, wasn’t familiar with all of the candidates, so procrastinated on submitting her ballot until the final day.

[SSJVegeta]

33. Barrett has been the most democratic member of the anti-democracy court

Not saying much tbh

[Raven123]

36. Barrett just told the GOP how to change federal law

[standingtall]

42. Just more evidence to me the Supreme Court must be expanded

Right decision yes, but 5-4 decision in a case that should've been 9-0 tells me everything I need yo know.

[ABC123Easy]

45. Scotland

You gotta love the Scots!