Supreme Court Upholds Mail Ballots Law; Strikes Down Campaign Spending Limits

The U.S. Supreme Court issued two significant rulings this week that will impact elections and political financing across the country.

In a 5-4 decision, the court upheld Mississippi's law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received up to five days later. Justice Amy Coney Barrett authored the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberal justices: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The ruling confirms that Mississippi's measure does not conflict with federal statutes setting Election Day.

According to The Guardian, President Donald Trump criticized the decision on Truth Social, calling it 'a little bit surprising' and claiming it 'gives people more time to vote illegally.' However, as reported by Reuters, Justice Barrett wrote in the opinion that 'The election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose.'

The second ruling came in a 6-3 decision striking down federal campaign spending limits for political parties. The court ruled that current cash limits, which can reach up to $4 million for Senate races and $127,000 for House races, violate the First Amendment. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the majority opinion that 'constitutional text, history, and precedent establish that the political-party coordinated-expenditure limits violate the First Amendment.' This decision allows political parties to spend unlimited amounts in coordination with their federal candidates.

According to The Guardian, Trump praised the ruling on Truth Social: 'A BIG WIN FOR REPUBLICANS and, more importantly, The First Amendment!' However, Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, criticized the decision as reported by Al Jazeera, stating it would 'inevitably render the government more responsive to special interests and indifferent to the demands of the American people.'

The court also ruled on several other high-profile cases this term. In a 6-3 decision, the justices upheld laws in Idaho and West Virginia that prohibit transgender athletes from competing on girls' and women's sports teams. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the majority that Title IX and the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause allow states to base eligibility for women and girls' sports on biological sex.

The Supreme Court also struck down limits on coordinated campaign spending, further unwinding restrictions on the flow of money into congressional campaigns just months ahead of the midterm elections. The decision in NRSC v. FEC joins a line of recent rulings from the court's conservative majority that have invalidated campaign finance limits on the grounds that they restrict political speech.

These decisions come as the Supreme Court wraps up a term focused on President Donald Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power. According to HuffPost, the court still has several disputes to resolve, including two election-related cases and one case about a crackdown on transgender athletes.