The Supreme Court on Monday threw out several of the remaining election challenges raised after former President Donald Trump’s loss to President Biden.
One of the cases, filed in Pennsylvania and disputing the state’s greater allowances for mail-in ballots amid the pandemic, were rejected by the court in an unsigned order. The court earlier this year declined to consider election-related litigation until after Biden was inaugurated, signaling that it would not take up the cases.
Justice Clarence Thomas dissented from the decision, writing that although too few ballots were affected by the new rules for it to make a difference, that may not always be the case.
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“These cases provide us with an ideal opportunity to address just what authority nonlegislative officials have to set election rules, and to do so well before the next election cycle,” Thomas wrote. “The refusal to do so is inexplicable.”
Thomas also wrote that because the cases are no longer timely, they have, in his view, become more relevant for handling future election disputes. Thomas made the case that because courts are ill-equipped to handle disputes that arise immediately after elections, the court should use these cases to make clear how future elections must be conducted before they happen.
“By doing nothing, we invite further confusion and erosion of voter confidence,” he wrote.
Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, in a separate dissent, also wrote that the court could provide clarity on the question by taking up the cases.
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“They present an important and recurring constitutional question: whether the Elections or Electors Clauses of the United States Constitution are violated when a state court holds that a state constitutional provision overrides a state statute governing the manner in which a federal election is to be conducted,” Alito wrote. “That question has divided the lower courts, and our review at this time would be greatly beneficial.”
In a separate order, the court threw out a lawsuit filed by Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, which also had challenged Pennsylvania’s changed mail-in ballot rules. The court also declined to consider two other election lawsuits filed by the Trump administration.
