(The Center Square) – The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to intervene in a case that could reshape how federal candidates challenge state election laws, specifically whether Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Bost has the legal standing to sue Illinois over its 14-day mail ballot receipt deadline.
Russell Nobile, counsel for Bost, R-Murphysboro, explained that the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, stating that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue.
Nobile disagrees with this assessment, arguing that Bost’s campaign incurs additional costs due to the extended ballot counting period, constituting a tangible injury.
“For 130 years, federal courts have always had jurisdiction to hear cases like this. So this is a very novel, unusual, and frankly, unrealistic opinion about the impact these rules have on elections and how much they cost candidates. We believe it’s plainly inconsistent with longstanding law,” said Nobile. “Frankly, the court disagreed with its own precedent – and with precedent from the Fifth Circuit and other circuits. We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will hear the case and bring this ruling in line with the rest of the circuits.”
The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found counting ballots after election day to be unlawful. The Seventh Circuit never addressed the core question about the legality of Illinois’ extended ballot counting period. Instead, it issued a jurisdictional ruling.
“Congressman Bost has to run his campaign an extra 14 days over 34 counties, so obviously this costs his campaign extra money. You have to actually show an injury, and in this case, the injury is financial. It doesn’t have to be a lot. It could be just $1, but it clearly costs them money,” said Nobile. “Federal courts clearly have jurisdiction over the question we raise in general, but the question is, does he have a sufficient injury to trigger that jurisdiction?”
Nobile said there was a Mississippi case that made it through and the Fifth Circuit and the judge ruled on the merits. The Seventh Circuit has never ruled on the merits of this question regarding ballot receipt.
In Mississippi, the law allowed mail-in ballots to be counted for five days after Election Day.
“But the Illinois case specifically, we still have the merits question, ‘are ballots received late, violating federal law?’ We’re hopeful that the Supreme Court will decide that the Seventh Circuit should have heard the question and rule on the merits,” said Nobile.
Carol Davis, election integrity advocate, said it’s been frustrating for conservatives to be “repeatedly denied standing in court, while those on the left always have standing.”
She said an order from the Supreme Court will hopefully establish that candidates have standing in cases in which laws put them at a disadvantage.
Tom Fitton is the president of Judicial Watch.
“I tell you, counting ballots after election day is a great way to invite fraud. It undermines confidence in the elections, plus it’s downright illegal,” said Fitton.
