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00:02:23.020at Shopify.com slash Megan. Go to Shopify.com slash Megan. That's Shopify.com slash Megan.
00:02:31.660The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday hearing oral arguments in a case that could reshape
00:02:36.200how states handle mail-in ballots, specifically whether ballots postmarked by Election Day,
00:02:42.220but arriving later can still be counted. At issue, a Mississippi law adopted in 2020 during the
00:02:49.220COVID pandemic, allowing mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election
00:02:55.120day and then received within five business days thereafter. Four years later, the Republican
00:03:00.920National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, a voter, and a county election official
00:03:06.240challenging that law, arguing it conflicts with a federal statute that sets a single
00:03:11.620National Election Day, the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. A separate lawsuit by
00:03:17.140the Libertarian Party of Mississippi eventually combined with the Republicans' case. The
00:03:22.280Constitution grants states authority over the, quote, times, places, and manner of elections,
00:03:28.020but also gives Congress the power to override those rules. Mississippi arguing that an election
00:03:33.240occurs when voters cast their ballots, not when officials receive or count them, and that timely
00:03:39.960postmarking therefore satisfies federal law. The challengers arguing election day means when
00:03:46.400officials receive the ballots, making Mississippi's mail-in policy in violation of federal law.
00:03:53.040The case appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court, where, after more than two hours of
00:03:57.040arguments, several of the more conservative justices appeared skeptical of Mississippi's
00:04:02.160position. Right out of the gate, Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justice
00:04:07.460Amy Coney Barrett, pressing Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart with a rapid-fire round of
00:04:13.380questions. If I give my ballot, mail-in ballot, to my neighbor, is that a choice? It's a choice.
00:04:21.820It's not a final choice that can be recognized in the context of an election. So when do I know
00:04:25.660whether or not a choice is final? Is there any limit to that? As to how early people could vote?
00:04:31.920Sure. You know, they fill out a ballot if you're giving them a ballot and, you know, drop it off two weeks before.
00:04:39.060Your Honor, I don't think there is a limit to how early that could occur.
00:04:42.940If I have someone in my neighborhood, in my HOA, who says, listen, I'm going to take everybody's votes in,
00:04:49.840what if the state said that's fine if you've cast your final vote and you've, you know,
00:04:55.120you've designated someone to carry your vote to as long as it gets to the ballot box five days
00:05:02.480after election day, it's fine. Submission to mail or common carrier is different in kind than say
00:05:08.400submitting it to a relative or sort of a neighbor. What's the difference? They're not government
00:05:12.680officials. Justice Samuel Alito zeroing in on the meaning of the term election day. We have lots of
00:05:20.340phrases that involve two words, the last of which, the second of which is day.
00:05:27.680Labor Day, Memorial Day, George Washington's birthday, Independence Day, birthday, and
00:05:35.140Election Day, and they're all particular days.
00:05:39.720So if we start with that, if I have nothing more to look at than the phrase Election Day,
00:05:45.820I think this is the day in which everything is going to take place and or almost everything.
00:05:53.540President Trump long critical of mail-in balloting, arguing it opens the door to fraud and undermines confidence in the integrity of the election system.
00:06:01.980That concern echoed during arguments with Justices Alito and Brett Kavanaugh raising questions about delayed ballot counts.
00:06:09.060Some of the briefs have argued that confidence in election outcomes can be seriously undermined.
00:06:15.820If the apparent outcome of the election on the day after the polls close is radically flipped by the acceptance later of a big stash of ballots that flip the election.
00:06:32.040Late arriving ballots open up a risk of what might destabilize the election results.
00:06:37.980If the apparent winner the morning after the election ends up losing due to late arriving ballots, charges of a rigged election could explode.
00:06:45.640Mississippi's Solicitor General arguing that there is little evidence that late-arriving ballots lead to fraud.
00:06:51.900Liberal Justice Elena Kagan questioning whether the RNC's argument could also call into question early voting.
00:06:58.420You're basically saying there are two things that have to happen, and they have to happen on Election Day.
00:07:04.000And it's the voting and, you know, the casting of the vote and the receipt of the vote.
00:07:08.220And both of those things have to be on Election Day.
00:07:10.580And just like a normal person says, OK, well, when I early vote, I'm not doing that on that first Tuesday.
00:07:19.400Paul Clement arguing for the challengers that early voting is different because those votes are still finalized on Election Day.
00:07:27.340More than a dozen states allow for late arriving mail-in ballots to be counted if they're postmarked by Election Day,
00:07:33.720meaning the court's decision could have ripple effects well beyond Mississippi.
00:07:37.340We spoke with America First Policy Institute's Director for Election Integrity, Thomas Lane, about yesterday's arguments and what's at stake.
00:07:46.400He describes how a ruling striking down the Mississippi law could affect elections in other states with similar laws.
00:07:52.760If this case is resolved so that the ballot receipt deadline is struck down, this question was asked, hey, does this affect primary elections?
00:08:02.360Is it just a general election in November?
00:08:05.260And while Mississippi's law applies to all of their elections, primary elections, recall elections, the general election in November, what is at hand in that issue before the court is just the federal general election in November.
00:08:23.300So for primary elections that are coming up or in some states have already gone by, this ruling would not affect them.
00:08:30.820But what it does affect those 18 states and the District of Columbia is in November.
00:08:36.920One way this case is unusual is it's not California or New York defending late arriving ballots, but Mississippi, a reliably red state now on the opposite side of President Trump, the RNC and many Republicans.
00:08:52.600When the RNC was looking at challenging the post-receipt deadline, if you go and you sue in Illinois or you go and sue in New York, that you're not going to have a favorable decision in those lower courts and you're going to hope that you can appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court.
00:09:12.480But what I think happened here is the RNC saw that Mississippi is a very favorable venue for this. Mississippi's Solicitor General, who argued for Mississippi here, actually was the lawyer who argued the Dobbs case that overturned Roe v. Wade.
00:09:32.280And so it is odd that you have a red state, you have Mississippi on the opposite side of the administration or, in my view, very common sense practice and policy of having Election Day be Election Day.
00:09:46.920I think in the end, no matter how formidable the argument was from Mississippi, their law will be overturned.
00:09:55.640Lane giving us his prediction on the outcome.
00:09:57.800If I were to predict how this would go down, I think this is a very easy five and up to six vote majority for striking down Mississippi's law of receiving ballots five days after the election.