Overview
- The Court held that federal candidates have a concrete interest in rules governing the counting of votes and reinstated Rep. Mike Bost’s lawsuit.
- The decision addressed standing only and did not decide whether federal law forbids counting mail ballots received after Election Day.
- Illinois counts mail ballots postmarked by Election Day for up to 14 days, a policy also used in multiple states and the District of Columbia.
- Justice Amy Coney Barrett concurred on a narrower pocketbook-injury theory as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented over potential litigation “floodgates.”
- The case returns to lower courts while the justices also consider Watson v. Republican National Committee, which could resolve whether federal law preempts post‑Election Day counting, and analysts predict more election-law suits with the Trump administration having supported Bost.