The Supreme Court has revived a GOP congressman’s challenge to a late mail-in ballot law

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived a Republican challenge to a law allowing late mail ballots to be counted, a goal of President Donald Trump.

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Rep. Mike Bost, Republican of Illinois. Trump has the legal right to challenge the law, although the ballots had little impact on the race, which he easily won.

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The state said allowing the lawsuit to proceed would open the door to more election lawsuits and “cause chaos” for election officials. Post said vote total considerations should not affect his ability to stand trial.

Illinois law allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received up to two weeks later. More than a dozen states, plus the District of Columbia, accept mail-in ballots received after Election Day as long as they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Supreme Court will also consider the broader issue of whether states can continue to count mail ballots that arrived late in the spring.

The Trump administration weighed in to support Post. The Republican president stressed that the late arrival of ballot papers and the long period of vote counting undermine confidence in the elections.