DISAPPOINTING: Stunner: SCOTUS Whiffs on Election Day Showdown, 5-4. “Two months ago, observers felt sure that the Supreme Court would uphold a unanimous Fifth Circuit decision ruling ballots received after Election Day invalid in federal elections. Even the New York Times sounded pessimistic that the challenge to Judge Andrew Oldham’s ruling would succeed. They noted that Justice Amy Coney Barrett sounded especially skeptical about Mississippi’s processes in ensuring the ballots had been legitimately cast on or before Election Day. . . . The NYT was right that Barrett was the key vote in this decision. They just got the direction incorrect. Barrett authored the decision overruling the Fifth Circuit, allowing ballots to be collected and counted after Election Day, in a 5-4 ruling in which Chief Justice John Roberts concurred.”