Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20a66_new_m6io.pdf
Page Number: 31.0

8 

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE v. WISCONSIN 
STATE LEGISLATURE 
KAGAN, J., dissenting 

agrees.  Ante, at 1–2.) 
  The first problem with that reasoning is that the district 
court found to the contrary.  As this Court constantly states, 
a district court has the greatest familiarity with the facts in 
a case, because it oversees the development and presenta-
tion of evidence.  See, e.g., Purcell, 549 U. S., at 5; see also 
Fed. Rule Civ. Proc. 52(a).  That is why the court of appeals 
rightly  did  not  question  any  of  the  lower  court’s  findings.  
See supra, at 3.  And why the concurrence is wrong to take 
a different tack.   
  Recall that the district court’s findings include the follow-
ing.  See supra, at 2–3.  The COVID pandemic has been get-
ting worse and worse in Wisconsin.  And as the State has 
“broken numerous new case records,” in-person voting—ac-
cording to credible expert testimony—creates a “significant 
[health] risk,” especially for older and sicker citizens.  ___ 
F. Supp.  3d,  at  ___–___,  2020  WL  5627186,  *9–*10.    For 
that  reason,  Wisconsinites  have  turned  to  the  mails.    Ac-
cording to the state elections commission, close to 2 million 
people  are  likely  to  request  mail  ballots.    See  id.,  at  ___, 
2020 WL 5627186, *9.  (That is about double the number of 
already-returned  ballots  that  the  concurrence  chooses  to 
emphasize.    See  ante,  at  8,  11,  18.)    State  election  offices 
have not received the resources they need to deal with that 
influx  of  applications,  and  severe  administrative  backlogs 
have therefore developed.  See ___ F. Supp. 3d, at ___, 2020 
WL  5627186,  *9.    Postal  Service  delays,  detailed  by  both 
state  and  federal  officials,  compound  the  risk  that  voters 
will  be  unable  to  return  timely  requested  mail  ballots  by 
Election Day.  See ibid.  And if a voter discovers on Election 
Day that her mail ballot has not yet arrived, Wisconsin law 
prevents  her  from  voting  in  person—even  assuming  she 
would undertake the risk.  See Wis. Stat. §6.86(6).  All these 

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slightly altered ballot-receipt deadline can save thousands of timely cast 
mail ballots from the garbage bin.