Recent Case: Election Law - Campaign Finance and Ballot Counting That Affect Elections: The U.S. Supreme Court Makes Decisions That Affect Elections National Republican Senatorial Comm. v. FEC, Watson v. Republican National Comm.

Authors

• Lillian Engelhart

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This Recent Case Note analyzes the Supreme Court’s decisions in two cases decided within two days that are crucial to elections. In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. Federal Election Commission, the Court struck down the Federal Election Campaign Act’s (FECA) limits on a political party’s coordinated spending with its own candidates. In Watson v. Republican National Committee, the Court upheld state laws allowing absentee ballots to count when received after Election Day. Read together, the decisions leave fewer federal restrictions on election participation: one removes a cap on how much money a party may spend alongside its candidates, and the other declines to read into federal law a receipt deadline that disqualifies late-arriving ballots. The two rulings drew different coalitions, however, so the common result may say more about the particular statutory and constitutional questions presented than about a single judicial philosophy. The full impact of these rulings is yet to be seen, but future elections will shed some light on the practical effect, political impact, and legal import of these decisions.

Recommended Citation

Lillian Engelhart, Recent Cases: Election Law - Campaign Finance and Ballot Counting: The U.S. Supreme Court Makes Decisions That Affect Elections: National Republican Senatorial Comm. v. FEC, Watson v. Republican National Comm., 18 ConLawNOW 251 (2026)