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Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday upholding a Mississippi mail-in ballot law, President Donald Trump issued a fiery response.
“In light of the tremendous loss in the Supreme Court today concerning Voter’s Rights, and the fact that ‘people’s’ votes are allowed to be counted LONG AFTER an Election is over, it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT…” President Trump argued in a lengthy statement posted to Truth Social.
He went on to highlight the core bullet points of the proposed legislation, which would codify photo ID to vote in federal elections, proof of citizenship to register to vote, and ban mail-in ballots except in special circumstances, like illness or military deployment.
“There is no excuse for a politician, or otherwise, to be against the above three requirements,” the president said. “There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING! The House of Representatives has approved this vital Act, THREE TIMES. The United States Senate seems unable to do so.”
The case President Trump was referring to was Watson v. Republican National Committee. The suit challenged an election law in Mississippi which allowed the state to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to five days after.
“The Framers recognized the difficulty of crafting election laws ‘applicable to every probable change in the situation of the country,’” wrote Justice Amy Coney Barrett, in writing for the majority opinion.
She continued, “…So instead of constitutionalizing election law, they decided that ‘a discretionary power over elections’ needed to be lodged ‘somewhere…’ Suffice it to say, that power was not lodged in this Court. The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose.”
In summary, SCOTUS’s decision affirmed that a state law such as Mississippi’s stands. This ruling will allow post-Election Day mail-in ballot counting to continue, unless Congress were to pass legislation restricting federal election processes.
Barrett wrote in the majority opinion that “election-day statutes require the electorate’s choice to be made on election day. That occurs so long as election day is the deadline for individuals to vote—as it is in Mississippi. But the election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt, so they do not prevent Mississippi from counting ballots postmarked before election day yet received afterward.”
The subject of mail-in ballots has been a sticking point for President Trump, who has advocated for election integrity measures in U.S. federal elections.
Last week, President Trump canceled the signing of a key bipartisan housing bill in a bid to pressure lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act. “Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency,” he noted at the time, as reported by RSBN.
Congressman Abe Hamadeh, R-Ariz., reacted to the SCOTUS decision on Monday, writing, “The Left learned after the Supreme Court failed to stop the 2020 steal that they could weaponize mail-in ballots with zero consequences. The Watson decision confirms the Court has fully abdicated the fight for election integrity. The courts won’t save us—Congress must fill the void.” Like President Trump, he championed the SAVE America Act, calling it “common sense.”