What to know about SCOTUS’ consequential day:

• Mail-in ballots: The Court rejected a GOP bid to restrict mail voting and preserved pro-voter laws in 14 states.
  
  

• FTC firing: Trump’s dismissal of Rebecca Slaughter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was formally endorsed by the Court.
  
  
• Quiet periods: In a case that could make voter purges easier, the Court announced that it will hear a case on two Arizona voting laws that would require proof of citizenship.
  
  
• Dates on ballot envelopes: The Court also signaled it will agree to hear a challenge to Pennsylvania’s undated and wrongly dated mail-in ballot rules.
  
  
• Voting rights: In a loss for voters with disabilities, the Court declined to take up a challenge to an anti-voting Texas law.
  

Read even more coverage on every case below.

In major win, SCOTUS rules mail ballots can count after Election Day

• Justice Amy Coney Barrett rejected the GOP’s argument that federal laws setting a date for elections preempted states from accepting ballots after that.
  
  
• The reactions to the 5-4 decision were instantaneous: Anti-voting activists and election deniers melted down over it. “This is how our country dies,” one said.
  
  
• Meanwhile, Democratic officials and voting rights advocates praised it as a “rejection of Trump’s attacks.”
  
  
• The ruling is also good news for early voting — even as the GOP continues to try and kill it.
  
  
• So, the next obvious question becomes: Where does today’s ruling leave Trump's anti-mail voting crusade?

➤ What’s next after Watson?

Marc’s take on the Watson win

• In today’s video, Marc breaks down the Court's ruling and explains why every state should now adopt the ballot rule that was upheld and what you can do to make that happen.

➤ Watch the whole video

The Watson win was good, but SCOTUS also expanded Trump’s dismissal power

• Justice Sonia Sotomayor denounced the Slaughter decision in her dissent today, writing that it gave Trump “far greater power than ever before.”
  
  
• In a separate case, the Court rejected Trump’s attempt to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook without cause.

➤ Read Sotomayor’s criticism of this new “unbridled authority”

Supreme Court could greenlight voter purges right before Election Day

• At issue in the case, in part, is whether states can systematically cancel registrations of alleged noncitizens during the National Voter Registration Act’s (NVRA) 90-day “quiet period” before federal elections.

➤ Why this ruling will have widespread impacts

Supreme Court signals it will hear high-stakes case on Pennsylvania mail ballots

• Several moves by the Court strongly indicate it will take up Eakin v. Adams County Board of Elections.

➤ More on the Court’s indication

Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to Texas anti-voting law in loss for voters with disabilities

• The decision is a loss for voters with disabilities, who sometimes rely on assistance to vote. However, it also means the Court will not greenlight laws similar to the one in Texas across the country, which would have had far-reaching consequences.

➤ What did the pro-voter challengers argue?

Now for some non-SCOTUS news… Trump’s DOJ can’t stop losing voter roll cases

• A federal judge in New Hampshire dismissed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit against New Hampshire and Secretary of State David Scanlan (R), who refused the department’s demand to hand over an unredacted copy of its statewide voter registration list.

➤ More on the DOJ’s 11th straight loss

Colorado Supreme Court kills redistricting ballot measures for 2028

• The effort was aimed at redrawing the state’s congressional map to counter GOP gerrymanders in other states. The court found the measures violated the state constitution.

➤ Why the court’s decision was immediately criticized

RNC sues Nevada, amping up nationwide campaign against overseas voters

• This is the third GOP lawsuit against overseas voters within a week and the latest escalation in a fast-moving national campaign to restrict voting access for U.S. citizens abroad.

➤ The latest on the GOP’s newest lawsuit

Here we share noteworthy briefs on all things voting rights and democracy. Have a footnote for us? Send it to newsletters@democracydocket.com.

• Trump was absolutely livid over today’s Watson decision and raged about it on Truth Social. Later in the day, when asked about it by reporters, he called it "surprising" and added: “It gives people more time to vote illegally.”
  
  
• Speaking of Trump, in an attempt to show what his planned Triumphal Arch would look like, a miniature was constructed at his Great American State Fair. Let’s just say the shoddy workmanship of the replica was immediately noticed (and laughed at).