Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20-542_2c83.pdf
Page Number: 9

Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2021) 

9 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

potentially disenfranchising a subset of voters and enforc-
ing the election provisions—such as receipt deadlines—that
the legislature believes are necessary for election integrity. 
That  occurred  last  year.    After  a  court  wrongly  altered 
South Carolina’s witness requirement for absentee ballots,
this Court largely reinstated the original rule, but declined 
to  apply  it  to  ballots  already  cast.    Andino  v.  Middleton, 
ante, p. ___.  Settling rules well in advance of an election
rather than relying on postelection litigation ensures that 
courts are not put in that untenable position.

In short, the postelection system of judicial review is at
most suitable for garden-variety disputes.  It generally can-
not restore the state of affairs before an election.  And it is 
often incapable of testing allegations of systemic maladmin-
istration, voter suppression, or fraud that go to the heart of
public confidence in election results.  That is obviously prob-
lematic for allegations backed by substantial evidence.  But 
the same is true where allegations are incorrect.  After all, 
“[c]onfidence in the integrity of our electoral process is es-
sential to the functioning of our participatory democracy.” 
Purcell,  supra,  at  4;  cf.  McCutcheon  v.  Federal  Election 
Comm’n, 572 U. S. 185, 191, 206–207 (2014) (plurality opin-
ion)  (identifying  a  compelling  interest  in  rooting  out  the 
mere  “appearance  of  corruption”  in  the  political  process).
An incorrect allegation, left to fester without a robust mech-
anism to test and disprove it, “drives honest citizens out of
the democratic process and breeds distrust of our govern-
ment.”  Purcell, supra, at 4. 

III 
Because the judicial system is not well suited to address
these kinds of questions in the short time period available 
immediately  after  an  election,  we  ought  to  use  available
cases  outside  that  truncated  context  to  address  these  ad-
mittedly  important  questions.    Here,  we  have  the  oppor-