President Donald Trump lashed out at a Supreme Court decision on Monday. The mail-in ballot opinion he opposed came from a justice he himself put on the bench. A hand-picked ally turned into a judicial adversary overnight.
Donald Trump reacts after Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballots
In Watson v. RNC, the Court left in place a Mississippi rule that lets election officials count mail-in ballots arriving as late as five days after polls close. For Trump, who has been campaigning for tighter voting laws, the outcome was a setback, in part due to his own appointees.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, nominated by Trump, authored the opinion. She pushed back on the argument Republicans had raised, explaining that so long as Election Day remains the date by which a ballot must legally be cast, “election-day statutes do not set a deadline for ballot receipt (via Fox News).”
Trump responded on Truth Social later that day, describing the ruling as a “tremendous loss” for voters and urging lawmakers to respond immediately by passing the SAVE America Act. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida are leading the bill, which calls for nationwide voter identification and would shut down most no-excuse mail voting. “It is more important than ever to pass the SAVE America Act,” Trump wrote.
The president outlined what he considers non-negotiable: proof of identity, proof of citizenship, and mail ballots reserved only for military personnel, people who are sick or disabled, and those away from home on Election Day. Anyone opposed to these, he argued, has only one real motive and accused critics of wanting to cheat. He also pointed out that the House has already passed versions of the SAVE Act three separate times.
Trump then turned on five Senate Republicans by name: Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and Mitch McConnell, framing their resistance as part of a broader threat he likened to a “Communist movement” facing the nation.
Originally written by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
