The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear arguments in a challenge to late-arriving ballot laws in March, in a case that could have wider implications for election procedures in multiple states this November.
The justices will hear arguments in Watson v. Republican National Committee on March 23. The case looks at whether state laws allowing the counting of mail ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward violate federal law. In the Watson case, the justices are considering the legality of a Mississippi law that allows mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received up to five days later.
The central question in Watson will be whether the federal law, which sets Election Day as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, preempts state laws that allow ballots received after Election Day to be counted. Mississippi officials have argued that the state law is not preempted, while the RNC has urged the high court to strike down the Magnolia State’s law, along with similar ones in other states, as unlawful.
The ruling in the Watson case is expected to be one of several heard by the Supreme Court that could have an impact on the midterm election. Other pivotal cases include a campaign finance law challenge that could allow for greater coordinated spending between candidates and political parties, and a challenge to how race-based redistricting lawsuits are handled.
The Supreme Court also announced on Friday that it will hear Trump v. Barbara, a challenge to President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, on April 1.
In the Barbara case, the high court will examine whether the president’s January 2025 order, which claims birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment does not extend to children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis, such as on a visa, is constitutional. The case will be the first major challenge involving birthright citizenship heard by the high court in more than 100 years.
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The Supreme Court has yet to schedule which cases it will hear for its session beginning April 20 and ending April 29, which is expected to be the last session of oral arguments this term.
The high court is expected to release rulings in every case this term, including the Watson and Barbara cases, by the end of June.