_________________ 

_________________ 

Cite as: 589 U. S. ____ (2020) 1 

Per Curiam 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 

preliminary print of the United States Reports. Readers are requested to 

notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 

corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

No. 19A1016 

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. 

ON APPLICATION FOR STAY 

[April 6, 2020]

 PER CURIAM. 

The application for stay presented to JUSTICE 

KAVANAUGH and by him referred to the Court is granted.

The District Court’s order granting a preliminary injunction is stayed to the extent it requires the State to count

absentee ballots postmarked after April 7, 2020. 

Wisconsin has decided to proceed with the elections 

scheduled for Tuesday, April 7. The wisdom of that decision 

is not the question before the Court. The question before

the Court is a narrow, technical question about the absentee ballot process. In this Court, all agree that the deadline

for the municipal clerks to receive absentee ballots has been 

extended from Tuesday, April 7, to Monday, April 13. That 

extension, which is not challenged in this Court, has afforded Wisconsin voters several extra days in which to mail

their absentee ballots. The sole question before the Court 

is whether absentee ballots now must be mailed and postmarked by election day, Tuesday, April 7, as state law 

would necessarily require, or instead may be mailed and 

postmarked after election day, so long as they are received

by Monday, April 13. Importantly, in their preliminary injunction motions, the plaintiffs did not ask that the District 
 

2 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 

Per Curiam 

Court allow ballots mailed and postmarked after election 

day, April 7, to be counted. That is a critical point in the 

case. Nonetheless, five days before the scheduled election, 

the District Court unilaterally ordered that absentee ballots mailed and postmarked after election day, April 7, still

be counted so long as they are received by April 13. Extending the date by which ballots may be cast by voters—not 

just received by the municipal clerks but cast by voters—

for an additional six days after the scheduled election day

fundamentally alters the nature of the election. And again,

the plaintiffs themselves did not even ask for that relief in

their preliminary injunction motions. Our point is not that

the argument is necessarily forfeited, but is that the plaintiffs themselves did not see the need to ask for such relief. 

By changing the election rules so close to the election date 

and by affording relief that the plaintiffs themselves did not

ask for in their preliminary injunction motions, the District

Court contravened this Court’s precedents and erred by ordering such relief. This Court has repeatedly emphasized

that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the

election rules on the eve of an election. See Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U. S. 1 (2006) (per curiam); Frank v. Walker, 574 

U. S. 929 (2014); Veasey v. Perry, 574 U. S. __ (2014). 

The unusual nature of the District Court’s order allowing 

ballots to be mailed and postmarked after election day is 

perhaps best demonstrated by the fact that the District 

Court had to issue a subsequent order enjoining the public 

release of any election results for six days after election day.

In doing so, the District Court in essence enjoined nonparties to this lawsuit. It is highly questionable, moreover, 

that this attempt to suppress disclosure of the election results for six days after election day would work. And if any

information were released during that time, that would 

gravely affect the integrity of the election process. The District Court’s order suppressing disclosure of election results 

showcases the unusual nature of the District Court’s order 
 

 

Cite as: 589 U. S. ____ (2020) 3 

Per Curiam 

allowing absentee ballots mailed and postmarked after

election day to be counted. And all of that further underscores the wisdom of the Purcell principle, which seeks to 

avoid this kind of judicially created confusion.

The dissent is quite wrong on several points. First, the 

dissent entirely disregards the critical point that the plaintiffs themselves did not ask for this additional relief in their 

preliminary injunction motions. Second, the dissent contends that this Court should not intervene at this late date. 

The Court would prefer not to do so, but when a lower court

intervenes and alters the election rules so close to the election date, our precedents indicate that this Court, as appropriate, should correct that error. Third, the dissent refers 

to voters who have not yet received their absentee ballots. 

But even in an ordinary election, voters who request an absentee ballot at the deadline for requesting ballots (which

was this past Friday in this case) will usually receive their 

ballots on the day before or day of the election, which in this 

case would be today or tomorrow. The plaintiffs put forward no probative evidence in the District Court that these

voters here would be in a substantially different position

from late-requesting voters in other Wisconsin elections 

with respect to the timing of their receipt of absentee ballots. In that regard, it bears mention that absentee voting

has been underway for many weeks, and 1.2 million Wisconsin voters have requested and have been sent their absentee ballots, which is about five times the number of absentee ballots requested in the 2016 spring election.

Fourth, the dissent’s rhetoric is entirely misplaced and completely overlooks the fact that the deadline for receiving ballots was already extended to accommodate Wisconsin voters, from April 7 to April 13. Again, that extension has the 

effect of extending the date for a voter to mail the ballot 

from, in effect, Saturday, April 4, to Tuesday, April 7. That 

extension was designed to ensure that the voters of Wisconsin can cast their ballots and have their votes count. That 
 

4 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 

Per Curiam 

is the relief that the plaintiffs actually requested in their 

preliminary injunction motions. The District Court on its 

own ordered yet an additional extension, which would allow 

voters to mail their ballots after election day, which is extraordinary relief and would fundamentally alter the nature of the election by allowing voting for six additional

days after the election. 

Therefore, subject to any further alterations that the 

State may make to state law, in order to be counted in this 

election a voter’s absentee ballot must be either (i) postmarked by election day, April 7, 2020, and received by April 

13, 2020, at 4:00 p.m., or (ii) hand-delivered as provided under state law by April 7, 2020, at 8:00 p.m.

The Court’s decision on the narrow question before the 

Court should not be viewed as expressing an opinion on the 

broader question of whether to hold the election, or whether 

other reforms or modifications in election procedures in

light of COVID–19 are appropriate. That point cannot be

stressed enough. 

The stay is granted pending final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh

Circuit and the timely filing and disposition of a petition for 

a writ of certiorari. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In 

the event the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the 

stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court. 

It is so ordered. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________ 

_________________ 

Cite as: 589 U. S. ____ (2020) 1 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

No. 19A1016 

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. 

ON APPLICATION FOR STAY 

[April 6, 2020] 

JUSTICE GINSBURG, with whom JUSTICE BREYER, 

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting. 

The District Court, acting in view of the dramatically 

evolving COVID–19 pandemic, entered a preliminary injunction to safeguard the availability of absentee voting in 

Wisconsin’s spring election. This Court now intervenes at 

the eleventh hour to prevent voters who have timely requested absentee ballots from casting their votes. I would 

not disturb the District Court’s disposition, which the Seventh Circuit allowed to stand. 

I 

A 

Wisconsin’s spring election is scheduled for tomorrow, 

Tuesday, April 7, 2020. At issue are the presidential primaries, a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, three seats 

on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, over 100 other judgeships, over 500 school board seats, and several thousand 

other positions. Democratic National Committee v. Bostelmann, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, ___, 2020 WL 1638374, *3 (WD 

Wis., Apr. 2, 2020). 

In the weeks leading up to the election, the COVID–19 

pandemic has become a “public health crisis.” Id., at ___, 

2020 WL 1638374, *1. As of April 2, Wisconsin had 1,550 

confirmed cases of COVID–19 and 24 deaths attributable to 

the disease, “with evidence of increasing community 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

spread.” Id., at ___, 2020 WL 1638374, *3. On March 24, 

the Governor ordered Wisconsinites to stay at home until 

April 24 to slow the spread of the disease. Ibid. 

Because gathering at the polling place now poses dire 

health risks, an unprecedented number of Wisconsin voters—at the encouragement of public officials—have turned 

to voting absentee. Id., at ___, 2020 WL 1638374, *4. About 

one million more voters have requested absentee ballots in 

this election than in 2016. Ibid. Accommodating the surge 

of absentee ballot requests has heavily burdened election 

officials, resulting in a severe backlog of ballots requested 

but not promptly mailed to voters. Id., at ___–___, 2020 WL 

1638374, *4–*5. 

B 

Several weeks ago, plaintiffs—comprising individual 

Wisconsin voters, community organizations, and the state 

and national Democratic parties—filed three lawsuits 

against members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 

the United States District Court for the Western District of 

Wisconsin.1 The District Court consolidated the suits on 

March 28. The plaintiffs sought several forms of relief, all 

aimed at easing the effects of the COVID–19 pandemic on 

the upcoming election. 

After holding an evidentiary hearing, the District Court 

issued a preliminary injunction on April 2. As relevant 

here, the court concluded that the existing deadlines for absentee voting would unconstitutionally burden Wisconsin 

citizens’ right to vote. See Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U. S. 

428, 434 (1992); Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U. S. 780, 789 

(1983). To alleviate that burden, the court entered a twofold remedy. First, the District Court extended the deadline 

for voters to request absentee ballots from April 2 to April 

—————— 1The state and national Republican parties intervened as defendants. 

The District Court denied intervention by the state legislature, which 

the Seventh Circuit later allowed. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cite as: 589 U. S. ____ (2020) 3 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

3. Second, the District Court extended the deadline for election officials to receive completed absentee ballots. Previously, Wisconsin law required that absentee ballots be received by 8 p.m. on election day, April 7; under the 

preliminary injunction, the ballots would be accepted until 

4 p.m. on April 13, regardless of the postmark date. The 

District Court also enjoined members of the Elections Commission and election inspectors from releasing any report of 

polling results before the new absentee-voting deadline, 

April 13. 

Although the members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission did not challenge the preliminary injunction, the 

intervening defendants applied to the Seventh Circuit for a 

partial stay. Of the twofold remedy just described, the stay 

applicants challenged only the second aspect, the extension 

of the deadline for returning absentee ballots. On April 3, 

the Seventh Circuit declined to modify the absentee-ballot 

deadline. The same applicants then sought a partial stay 

in this Court, which the Court today grants. 

II 

A 

The Court’s order requires absentee voters to postmark 

their ballots by election day, April 7—i.e., tomorrow—even 

if they did not receive their ballots by that date. That is a 

novel requirement. Recall that absentee ballots were originally due back to election officials on April 7, which the 

District Court extended to April 13. Neither of those deadlines carried a postmark-by requirement. 

While I do not doubt the good faith of my colleagues, the 

Court’s order, I fear, will result in massive disenfranchisement. A voter cannot deliver for postmarking a ballot she 

has not received. Yet tens of thousands of voters who timely 

requested ballots are unlikely to receive them by April 7, 

the Court’s postmark deadline. Rising concern about the 

COVID–19 pandemic has caused a late surge in absentee-
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

ballot requests. ___ F. Supp. 3d, at ___–___, 2020 WL 

1638374, *4–*5. The Court’s suggestion that the current 

situation is not “substantially different” from “an ordinary 

election” boggles the mind. Ante, at 3. Some 150,000 requests for absentee ballots have been processed since 

Thursday, state records indicate.2 The surge in absenteeballot requests has overwhelmed election officials, who face 

a huge backlog in sending ballots. ___ F. Supp. 3d, at ___, 

___, ___–___, ___–___, 2020 WL 1638374, *1, *5, *9–*10, 

*17–*18. As of Sunday morning, 12,000 ballots reportedly 

had not yet been mailed out.3 It takes days for a mailed 

ballot to reach its recipient—the postal service recommends 

budgeting a week—even without accounting for pandemicinduced mail delays. Id., at ___, 2020 WL 1638374, *5. It 

is therefore likely that ballots mailed in recent days will not 

reach voters by tomorrow; for ballots not yet mailed, late 

arrival is all but certain.4 Under the District Court’s order, 

an absentee voter who receives a ballot after tomorrow 

could still have voted, as long as she delivered it to election 

—————— 2See Wisconsin Elections Commission, Absentee Ballot Report, Apr. 2, 

2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6806; Wisconsin Elections Commission, Absentee Ballot Report, Apr. 3, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6808; Wisconsin Elections Commission, Absentee Ballot Report, Apr. 4, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6814; Wisconsin 

Elections Commission, Absentee Ballot Report, Apr. 5, 2020, https://elections.wi.gov/node/6815. 3See Wisconsin Elections Commission, Absentee Ballot Report, Apr. 5, 

2020, https://elections.wi.gov/index.php/node/6815. 4See, e.g., Tr. 18–19 (Apr. 1, 2020) (testimony that mail delivery “can 

take up to a week” or longer, threatening “the opportunity for the voter 

to receive [the absentee] ballot by mail”); id., at 35 (testimony that the 

“transaction time from the time the clerk puts [an absentee ballot] in the 

mail to the voter receiving it could take up to a week”); id., at 40 (testimony agreeing that “there will be some people who request . . . [an] absentee ballot [on April 2] who will not be receiving it in time to put it in 

the mail by April 7th”); Brief for City of Green Bay as Amicus Curiae in 

No. 3:20–cv–00249 (WD Wis.), p. 5 (“[D]elays at the post office are . . . 

affecting the speed with which voters receive their ballots . . . .”). 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cite as: 589 U. S. ____ (2020) 5 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

officials by April 13. Now, under this Court’s order, tens of 

thousands of absentee voters, unlikely to receive their ballots in time to cast them, will be left quite literally without 

a vote. 

This Court’s intervention is thus ill advised, especially so 

at this late hour. See Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U. S. 1, 4–5 

(2006) (per curiam). Election officials have spent the past 

few days establishing procedures and informing voters in 

accordance with the District Court’s deadline. For this 

Court to upend the process—a day before the April 7 postmark deadline—is sure to confound election officials and 

voters. 

B 

What concerns could justify consequences so grave? The 

Court’s order first suggests a problem of forfeiture, noting 

that the plaintiffs’ written preliminary-injunction motions 

did not ask that ballots postmarked after April 7 be 

counted. But unheeded by the Court, although initially silent, the plaintiffs specifically requested that remedy at the 

preliminary-injunction hearing in view of the ever-increasing demand for absentee ballots. See Tr. 102–103 (Apr. 1, 

2020). 

Second, the Court’s order cites Purcell, apparently skeptical of the District Court’s intervention shortly before an 

election. Nevermind that the District Court was reacting 

to a grave, rapidly developing public health crisis. If proximity to the election counseled hesitation when the District 

Court acted several days ago, this Court’s intervention today—even closer to the election—is all the more inappropriate. 

Third, the Court notes that the District Court’s order allowed absentee voters to cast ballots after election day. If a 

voter already in line by the poll’s closing time can still vote, 

why should Wisconsin’s absentee voters, already in line to 

receive ballots, be denied the franchise? According to the 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE 

GINSBURG, J., dissenting 

stay applicants, election-distorting gamesmanship might 

occur if ballots could be cast after initial results are published. But obviating that harm, the District Court enjoined the publication of election results before April 13, the 

deadline for returning absentee ballots, and the Wisconsin 

Elections Commission directed election officials not to publish results before that date.5 

The concerns advanced by the Court and the applicants 

pale in comparison to the risk that tens of thousands of voters will be disenfranchised. Ensuring an opportunity for 

the people of Wisconsin to exercise their votes should be our 

paramount concern. 

* * * 

The majority of this Court declares that this case presents a “narrow, technical question.” Ante, at 1. That is 

wrong. The question here is whether tens of thousands of 

Wisconsin citizens can vote safely in the midst of a pandemic. Under the District Court’s order, they would be able 

to do so. Even if they receive their absentee ballot in the 

days immediately following election day, they could return 

it. With the majority’s stay in place, that will not be possible. Either they will have to brave the polls, endangering 

their own and others’ safety. Or they will lose their right to 

vote, through no fault of their own. That is a matter of utmost importance—to the constitutional rights of Wisconsin’s citizens, the integrity of the State’s election process, 

and in this most extraordinary time, the health of the Nation. 

—————— 5Memorandum from M. Wolfe, Administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, to Wisconsin Municipal Clerks et al. 

(Apr. 3, 2020), https://elections.wi.gov/sites/elections.wi. 

gov/files/2020-04/Clerk%20comm%20re.%20court%20decisions%204.3.pdf.