Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20a66_new_m6io.pdf
Page Number: 6

Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

KAVANAUGH, J., concurring 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 20A66 
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DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. v. 
WISCONSIN STATE LEGISLATURE, ET AL. 

ON APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY 

[October 26, 2020]

  JUSTICE KAVANAUGH, concurring in denial of application 
to vacate stay. 
  Approximately  30  States,  including  Wisconsin,  require 
that absentee ballots be received by election day in order to 
be counted.  Like most States, Wisconsin has retained that 
deadline for the November 2020 election, notwithstanding 
the COVID–19 pandemic.  In advance of the November elec-
tion, however, a Federal District Court in Wisconsin unilat-
erally changed the State’s deadline for receipt of absentee 
ballots.  Citing the pandemic, the court extended the dead-
line for receipt of absentee ballots by six days—from elec-
tion day, November 3, to November 9, so long as the ballots 
are postmarked on or before election day, November 3. 
  The  Seventh  Circuit  stayed  the  District  Court’s  injunc-
tion, ruling that the District Court had violated this Court’s 
precedents  in  two  fundamental  ways:  first,  by  changing 
state election rules too close to an election; and second, by 
usurping the state legislature’s authority to either keep or 
make  changes  to  state  election  rules  in  light  of  the  pan-
demic. 
  Applicants here ask that we vacate the Seventh Circuit’s 
stay and reinstate the District Court’s order extending the 
deadline  for  absentee  ballots  to  be  received  in  Wisconsin.  
The Court today denies the applications and maintains the 
Seventh Circuit’s stay of the District Court’s order.  I agree 
with  the  Court’s  decision  to  deny  the  applications,  and  I 
write separately to explain why.