Supreme Court rules Illinois GOP Rep Bost can challenge state's mail ballot deadline

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Illinois GOP Rep. Mike Bost can challenge his state's mail-in ballot deadline law, allowing candidates nationwide to more easily challenge election laws in their states.

The justices ruled 7-2 that Bost has the legal right to sue Illinois over the state's ability to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day, The Hill news outlet reported.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.

“Candidates, in short, are not ‘mere bystanders’ in their own elections,” Roberts wrote. “They have an obvious personal stake in how the result is determined and regarded.”

The issue before the court was not the legality of the Illinois mail-in ballot practice, but whether Bost had standing to bring the case. Lower courts ruled that Bost did not have standing after finding the votes likely would not have much of an impact in his own race.