The cert grant is here.

Here is what I wrote when the 5th Circuit first decided this case:

Fifth Circuit in Bonkers Opinion Holds It Violates Federal Law for Miss. to Accept Ballots Postmarked by Election Day But Arriving After Election Day; Decision (for Now) Won’t Be Applied to This Year’s Election (Which Has Already Started)

You can find the opinion here, coming from the most radical panel of the judges on the Fifth Circuit (and that of course is saying something). I am on multiple deadlines, so a full analysis of the merits will have to wait. Suffice it to say that federal law has left this to the states, and requiring that people vote by election day is not the same as saying their ballots must be received by election day. Every other court to face these cases has rejected this argument.

The important point for now is that the panel did not put this ruling into effect for this election. They’ve remanded it to the lower court to consider the issue in light of the federal rule in Purcell and otherwise about late changes in election rules….

I would be very surprised if any court changed the rules for Mississippi at this late date, and even more surprised if such an order would survive Supreme Court review—much less seeing this ruling extended to other states for this election.

But it does show you that sometimes cases only become important when judges do things that are entirely unexpected. I guess we should expect more of that going forward.

Richard Bernstein has a much more in depth analysis of these issues.