‘CHAOS AND SUSPICION’

Justice Kavanaugh Parrots Trump in Ominous Anti-Mail-In Ballot Wisconsin Ruling

Justice Brett Kavanaugh has given the world a glimpse into how next week’s election could ultimately play out in the courts.

We’ve come to expect President Donald Trump’s relentless attempts to baselessly undermine the legitimacy of mail-in voting—but it’s something else when it comes from a Supreme Court justice. On Monday, the Supreme Court upheld an appeals court decision that blocked extending Wisconsin’s deadline for absentee ballots by six days. In his notes explaining his decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh delivered a very Trumpian warning that any votes that came in after Election Day could be viewed as illegitimate. He wrote: “States want to avoid the chaos and suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after Election Day and potentially flip the results of an election.”

Justice Elena Kagan used her dissenting opinion in the case to rebuke the Trump appointee, writing: “There are no results to ‘flip’ until all valid votes are counted. And nothing could be more ‘suspicio[us]’ or ‘improp[er]’ than refusing to tally votes once the clock strikes 12 on Election Night.”