President Donald Trump intensified his efforts to pass his signature elections bill on Monday after the Supreme Court handed the president a loss in his push to add restrictions to mail voting.
The decision — where the Supreme Court ruled that states may choose to count ballots that arrive after Election Day, so long as they are either postmarked before then or otherwise deemed cast on time — sparked a flurry of activity Monday among the president and his allies.
“In light of the tremendous loss in the Supreme Court today concerning Voter’s Rights, and the fact that ‘people’s’ votes are allowed to be counted LONG AFTER an Election is over, it is more important than ever to pass THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president has fixated on the SAVE America Act, even as some Senate Republicans insist the legislation simply does not have enough votes. Trump called out five senators as “Hold Outs” on the bill, naming Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Monday’s ruling upheld a Mississippi law allowing election officials to count mail-in ballots received up to five days after Election Day. A bipartisan mix of over a dozen states allow at least some ballots that arrive after Election Day to still be counted so long as they are postmarked before then. More states extend that grace period to certain military and overseas voters.
Trump has advocated for severely restricting mail voting, which he has claimed without evidence is responsible for widespread fraud.
The Trump administration has also sought to empower the Postal Service to withhold ballots if states don’t hand over their voter rolls, though an executive order instructing the agency to do so was batted down by a federal judge.
A core tenet of the SAVE America Act, according to the president, would be to drastically limit when voting by mail is available to citizens with few exceptions, alongside requiring voters to present photo identification and proof of citizenship.
“There is no excuse for a politician, or otherwise, to be against” the bill, Trump wrote.
The practice of “no excuse” mail voting — the idea that a voter may choose to vote by mail if they wanted to without having to provide a reason — is allowed in most states.
The president has made passing the legislation his primary concern and has demonstrated a willingness to torpedo Hill Republicans’ agenda in its pursuit, cancelling at the last minute a signing ceremony for a bipartisan bill meant to address housing affordability last week.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) nonetheless sent the bill to Trump’s desk Monday morning, setting up a potential confrontation.
Other GOP members fell in line with the president’s call to action Monday, parroting the necessity of passing the SAVE America Act in the aftermath of the court ruling.
“Now more than ever, Congress must secure our elections,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wrote on X. “It’s time to pass the SAVE America Act!”
Others took aim at Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Trump-appointed judge who wrote the majority opinion. She joined Chief Justice John Roberts alongside the three liberal justices in the decision.
“Remeber Election Day?” wrote Rep. Abraham Hamadeh (R-Ariz.). “This disastrous SCOTUS decision, authored by Justice Barrett, guarantees we’ll keep drifting away from it — as our sacred elections get bogged down by endless mail-in ballots and never-ending counts.”
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