In siding with their colleagues on the left in a critical election integrity case, Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined forces with the “living Constitution” camp bent on rewriting the Constitution and razing the 250-year-old republic.
Barrett, proving to be more of an OINO — originalist in name only — wrote the 5-4 majority opinion damning U.S. elections to the Californication of ballot counting and further shaking voter confidence in a system wide open to fraud.
The ruling in RNC v. Mississippi acknowledges that Election Day is indeed Election Day as proscribed by federal law but ruled that the law does not “set a deadline for ballot receipt.” In short, Mississippi can keep collecting ballots days after an election. So can California, which just this month drove home why a prolonged ballot receipt policy is a disaster for election integrity — and the constitutional republic.
“Today’s ruling from the Supreme Court is deeply disappointing and misses the mark. Federal law is clear: all ballots must be received by Election Day to be counted,” Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project (HEP), said in a statement following Monday’s ruling. “The Court missed a major opportunity to reinforce election integrity and instead sides with California-style chaos.
“As Justice Alito makes clear in his dissent, watching ballots trickle in after Election Day and flip races does nothing but damage public trust in our system of government,” Snead added.
HEP filed a joint amicus brief in the case and also conducted polling that showed 83 percent of Americans surveyed agree that ballots should be received by Election Day, nearly 80 percent affirming that an Election Day deadline would make elections “more secure.”
Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, described the opinion as “unfortunate,” asserting that it “demonstrates how much Justice [Samuel] Alito knows about our historical election practices and procedures and how little Justice Barrett … knows and understands.”
“Alito has proved that in numerous opinions he has written on election issues and proved it once again in this case,” von Spakovsky, who served on the Federal Election Commission and as a Department of Justice lawyer, told The Federalist.
The election law expert echoed the sentiments of many in the election integrity movement when he said that Barrett’s “erroneous opinion makes it even more important that the U.S. Senate pass the SAVE Act.”
‘More Important Than Ever’
But the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate — at least the weak-kneed, weak-willed senators wincing at the threat of long hours — isn’t much interested in working at passing legislation that the vast majority of American voters support. Besides, the light-schedule Senate has already checked out for its July 4 holiday recess. They’re not expected to be back in action until the week of July 13.
Their intransigence is not sitting well with President Donald Trump, who has made clear the SAVE Act (also known as the SAVE America Act) is mission critical. The bill would require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration and photo ID to vote in federal elections. In its current form, the election integrity bill would also end the use of universal mail-in ballots, with the exception of those who are ill, disabled, on military deployment, or traveling.
“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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post following Monday’s ruling.
Trump said there is “no excuse” for a politician to be against the bill’s three major provisions. Congressional Democrats have stood opposed to the bill at every turn, falsely insisting that the election integrity measures would lead to “Jim Crow 2.0,” clearly not understanding what Jim Crow laws did despite the fact that their party wrote them. They do that a lot.
“There is only one reason to oppose — CHEATING!” Trump added. He noted that the Republican-controlled House has been able to pass multiple iterations of the SAVE Act, while the Senate “seems unable to do so.”
‘It’s a Math Problem’
The Senate does face a higher threshold to even move a bill to the floor for debate. Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly said that he doesn’t have the votes in his caucus to force the Democrat minority’s hands. He could do so with a talking filibuster, which would require Democrats to continuously debate the bill to keep their filibuster alive.
But RINOs like Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina apparently don’t see the urgency.
“It’s quite simple. It’s a math problem. We simply don’t have the votes and the SAVE America Act will not be implemented in time for this election,” Tillis told reporters last week.
Perhaps. But it certainly could have been had Republican leadership had enough spine to move lawmaker hearts and minds. Thune could have pulled a number of power levers to convince the unmotivated in his caucus that failure to fight for the SAVE America Act comes with a price. Besides, the GOP’s lackluster performance on Trump’s agenda has put Republican control of the Senate in doubt leading into a critical midterm election. They still have time to get the SAVE America Act done in this session for 2028 — if they’re willing to work.
Therein lies the problem …
‘It’s Crazy’
Failure to act could prove destructive for the republic, Trump warned.
“In a time when there is a powerful Communist Movement taking place in our Country, one more dangerous than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or September 11th, all Dumocrats, and our five Republican Senate Hold Outs, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell must vote to SAVE OUR COUNTRY. There can be no more excuses!” Trump wrote.
The president has paused signing a bipartisan housing bill saturated in big government initiatives to put pressure on the Senate to act on the SAVE Act. He called the bill a “yawn.”
“It’s a yawn,” he told reporters Monday at the Oval Office. “To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”
Election integrity advocates are calling on Trump to veto the housing bill to press the Senate to pass the SAVE Act.
“The Supreme Court answered a legal question today,” Ken Cuccinelli, national chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative, said in a statement. “Congress still has a policy decision to make. The Court interpreted existing federal law. Congress can strengthen that law, and President Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that election integrity is one of his highest priorities. The housing bill is now on his desk and this is an ideal moment to advance election integrity.”
Trump, according to The Hill, said that the election integrity measure is “probably not going to happen because we have four Republican senators, maybe five, that just won’t vote for it. It’s crazy.”
Voters who value election integrity should and will remember what the Republican-controlled Senate failed to do when election season begins in a couple of months.
