Supreme Court Affirms Mississippi’s Late Mail-In Ballot Rule, Sparking Trump’s Renewed Call for ‘SAVE America Act’

The U.S. Supreme Court delivered a significant ruling on Monday, upholding Mississippi's right to count certain absentee ballots received after Election Day. This 5-4 decision, which saw one of former President Donald Trump's own appointees join the majority alongside the court's three liberal justices, strikes a blow against persistent efforts by Trump and the Republican Party to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the upcoming midterms.

The high court's opinion clarified that federal election statutes do not compel ballots to be received by Election Day. This stance allows states like Mississippi—one of approximately 30 states with similar provisions—to count ballots postmarked by Election Day but received within a subsequent grace period.

In response to the ruling, Donald Trump took to Truth Social, lamenting what he termed a "tremendous loss in the Supreme Court today concerning Voter's Rights." He forcefully reiterated his call for Congress to pass the "SAVE America Act," a controversial bill he claims is vital to safeguard elections.

Later the same day at the White House, Trump expressed his surprise at the Supreme Court's decision, suggesting it "gives people more time to vote illegally" and was "very detrimental to honest elections." He frequently propagates, without evidence, claims of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections.

Mississippi's specific law, enacted in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic with near-unanimous legislative support and signed by Republican Governor Tate Reeves, permits absentee ballots from categories like seniors and college students to be counted if postmarked by Election Day and received within five days. The Republican National Committee had challenged this law in 2024, arguing that federal statutes mandate receipt by Election Day.

However, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Trump appointee, penned the majority opinion, asserting that federal law does not preempt Mississippi's statute. This decision reverses a previous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that had sided with the RNC.

The ruling was welcomed by groups representing Mississippi, with Elisabeth Frost, litigation chair of Elias Law Group, stating that it affirms the "simple principle: a lawful ballot cast on time should be counted." She criticized the RNC's attempt to "rewrite election laws" that could have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters.

This development comes as Trump intensifies his push for election reform, making it a top priority for Republican lawmakers. He recently linked the passage of the SAVE America Act—which aims to curb mail-in voting and mandate proof of citizenship for voters, despite noncitizen voting already being federally illegal and rare—to the signing of a separate bipartisan housing bill.

Trump also urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to consider circumventing the Senate's filibuster rule by using a budget reconciliation package to pass the election bill. However, Thune has publicly refused to fire the Senate parliamentarian or alter filibuster rules, and acknowledged internal Republican opposition to the SAVE America Act, stating, "I'd like to have the Save America Act added on, [but] that's probably not going to happen, because we have four Republican senators, maybe five, that just won't vote for it."

The Trump administration had previously supported the RNC's lawsuit, with U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer presenting arguments before the justices.

Justice Barrett's majority opinion was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch (and in part by Brett Kavanaugh), argued that Mississippi's law effectively postpones the election date, which federal law precludes.