Justice Brett Kavanaugh warned the Supreme Court exactly what would happen if they allowed this.
Trump's own Solicitor General went to the mat to stop it.
And then a justice Donald Trump put on that court wrote the opinion that handed Democrats their biggest election law win in years – four months before Republicans fight to hold the House and Senate.
Barrett and Roberts Gave Democrats What They Needed for November
The 5-4 decision in Watson v. Republican National Committee landed Monday morning and stunned legal observers across the country.
Barrett authored the majority opinion upholding Mississippi's law that lets mail-in ballots count as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive within five business days after it.
She was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the court's three liberal justices – Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson.
Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh all dissented.
Trump's own Solicitor General, D. John Sauer, had argued before the court that Election Day means what it says – that ballots must be received, not merely mailed, by that deadline.
Barrett overruled him.
"The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt," Barrett wrote, "and we cannot add to the words Congress chose."
Alito's dissent didn't accept that quietly.
He wrote that the ruling "risks further undermining Americans' confidence in election integrity" and opens up a cascade of unresolved questions for state officials and courts across the country.
He was right – and Kavanaugh had already said so out loud.
Kavanaugh Predicted Chaos Would Follow and Then He Was Outvoted
Three months ago, during March oral arguments, Kavanaugh looked at what this ruling would do to close races and said it plainly: if an apparent Election Night winner ends up losing as late-arriving ballots trickle in, he warned, "charges of a rigged election could explode."
He voted correctly – joining the dissent in part.
Barrett didn't.
She and Roberts handed California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and seven other Democratic-dominated states everything they needed heading into November.
Washington state is the most exposed case.
While Mississippi's challenged law allows ballots to arrive up to five days after Election Day, Washington runs a 21-day grace period – the longest in the country – in an all-mail system where every registered voter automatically receives a ballot.
That system is now fully protected through the midterms.
250,000 Late Ballots in 2024 Were Just the Preview
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs stated that more than 250,000 ballots postmarked on time arrived after Election Day during the 2024 election alone.
That's not a postal quirk – that's the margin in Senate races.
A March poll by CRC Research for the Honest Elections Project found that 83% of likely voters – including 68% of Democrats – agreed that mail-in ballots should not be received after Election Day.
Another 78% said setting Election Day as the hard deadline "makes elections more secure."
The court just overruled all of them.
Jason Snead, Executive Director of Honest Elections Project Action, didn't hold back after the ruling dropped.
"Federal law is clear: all ballots must be received by Election Day to be counted," Snead said. "The Court missed a major opportunity to reinforce election integrity and instead sides with California-style chaos."
He added that watching ballots arrive after Election Day and flip races "does nothing but damage public trust in our system of government."
Trump Is Still Fighting and This Is Why the Stakes Are So High
This ruling lands directly in the middle of Trump's push to pass the SAVE America Act through the Republican-controlled Senate – a bill that would require voter ID nationwide and proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Law professor Jonathan Turley called the outcome "a surprise" on X minutes after it dropped and flagged it as a significant win for Democrats in states like California, which allows ballots to arrive a full week after Election Day.
Think about what just happened.
Trump's DOJ filed briefs against this ruling.
His Solicitor General argued the losing side before the court.
And the justice he appointed – the one he trusted to protect the integrity of American elections – wrote the majority opinion that locks late ballots into 14 states before November.
Kavanaugh saw it coming.
He just couldn't stop it alone.
Sources:
- Anthony Iafrate, "Supreme Court Rules Mail-In Ballots Can Be Counted After Election Day," The Daily Caller, June 29, 2026.
- Townhall Staff, "The Supreme Court Just Released Its Mail-In Ballot Ruling," Townhall, June 29, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "SCOTUS Conservatives Signal Readiness to Curb Late-Arriving Mail Ballots," Fox News, March 23, 2026.
- Jason Snead, statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, Honest Elections Project Action, June 29, 2026.
- Hans von Spakovsky, "Four Stolen Elections: The Vulnerabilities of Absentee and Mail-In Ballots," The Heritage Foundation.
