On Monday morning, the Supreme Court denied an appeal from Pennsylvania Republicans challenging a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allowed ballots received up to three days late to be counted in the 2020 election. According to CNN, the Republicans backing the appeal emphasized they were not attempting to overturn the election results, but that the state Supreme Court abused its power in allowing a change in ballot deadlines and must be tried under those circumstances. The ballots at issue amounted to approximately 10,000 votes, which would not change the outcome of the election in the state.
Supreme Court Justices, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Ailto, and Neil Gorsuch, three of the more conservative justices, dissented from the court’s denial of review, but they made it clear they had no desire to disturb the election results. The three justices said the court should have taken the opportunity to determine if Pennsylvania’s elections officials and courts had usurped the state legislature’s authority over elections by easing mail voting restrictions. Reported by The Hill, Thomas said, “These cases provide us with an ideal opportunity to address just what authority non-legislative officials have to set election rules,” and went on further to say the refusal to do so is inexplicable.
By rejecting this appeal, the court signified its lack of interest in cases regarding the outcome of the 2020 election. This is the second time the court has denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans, as in October of 2020 the court denied a request to investigate the decision to accept late ballots. On Monday, the Supreme court rejected eight cases, and this case is the only one in which justices publicly dissented. CBS Pittsburgh reported this case was of heightened interest to voting rights expert who, “Wanted to see if the Supreme Court might put limits on what state courts can do when interpreting their own laws.”
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