{"id":48970,"date":"2026-07-01T12:50:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48970"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T19:50:53","slug":"trump-suffers-rare-supreme-court-setback-on-mail-in-ballot-due-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/07\/01\/trump-suffers-rare-supreme-court-setback-on-mail-in-ballot-due-dates\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Suffers Rare Supreme Court Setback on Mail-in Ballot Due Dates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Amy
US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaking at the George W. Bush Presidential Center about her journey to the Supreme Court in Dallas, TX, on May 4, 2026. Photo credit: George W. Bush Presidential Center \/ Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Courts<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Klaus Marre<\/a>\u00a006\/29\/26 (whowhatwhy.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Mississippi law that allows properly postmarked ballots received up to five days after Election Day to still be counted. Donald Trump didn’t take the news well.<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump reacted to a rare Supreme Court loss on Monday with a social media rant and a renewed call on the Senate to pass a voter suppression bill that would eliminate most voting by mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in the day, the court had ruled in a narrow 5-4 decision, in which Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with their three liberal colleagues, that properly postmarked mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day must be counted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stating that the Founding Fathers had realized that writing election laws covering any possible future scenario posed a major challenge and therefore \u201cdecided that \u2018a discretionary power over elections\u2019 needed to be lodged \u2018somewhere,\u2019\u201d Barrett wrote for the majority<\/a> that \u201csuffice it to say, that power was not lodged in this Court.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She noted that statutes defining Election Day \u201csay nothing about ballot receipt,\u201d and declared that \u201cwe cannot add to the words Congress chose.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the court upheld a Mississippi law granting a grace period of five days for ballots postmarked by Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who has been on a warpath against mail-in voting, which he blames for his 2020 election loss that he still fails to accept, took to social media shortly afterwards to call the decision a \u201ctremendous loss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president used the opportunity to demand that the Senate pass the SAVE America Act, which would impose new voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements on Americans, millions of whom would not be able to meet them even though they are eligible by law to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the legislation would also ban almost all types of mail-in voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making up a non-existent threat of a \u201cpowerful Communist Movement\u201d in the US that, according to the president, is \u201cmore dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th,\u201d he called on Republican senators opposed to passing the bill and\/or eliminating the filibuster to do so to bend to his will in light of the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the Supreme Court ruled against him, Trump\u2019s allegations of \u201celection fraud\u201d \u2014 which he has never been able to back up with any kind of evidence \u2014 and the GOP\u2019s subsequent efforts to help him undermine democracy, bled into Barrett\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cElection fraud and its appearance are serious issues. Like other such issues, however, they must be addressed through the democratic process,\u201d Barrett wrote. \u201cThe election-day statutes are proof of concept: When voting on different days in different States sparked allegations of fraud, Congress set a nationally uniform deadline for voting. If varied deadlines for ballot receipt similarly call for a national solution, the American people must choose it through their elected representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, many of those representatives, i.e., most Republicans, are now adherents of Trump\u2019s Big Lie. This means that, whether out of ignorance or political calculation, they are willing to help the president change election laws in a way that they hope will give them an advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, this narrow ruling, while important, is merely a reprieve as Trump\u2019s assault on democracy continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n