Daily Times

More than 86 million Americans have already voted in the presidential election, but President Donald Trump thinks he can count on one hand the votes that will determine the outcome.

“I think this will end up in the Supreme Court,” Trump said last month of the election.

The justices have already tackled issues involving voting in more than half a dozen states. On Friday, the president on Twitter sharply criticized their decision involving an extended deadline for receiving mailed-in ballots in North Carolina as “CRAZY and so bad for our Country.”

His disapproving comments highlight the tension between the law and politics that Chief Justice John Roberts has long said he would like to see the court avoid. Two years ago, Roberts issued a rare public rebuke of Trump for suggesting that judges are loyal to the presidents who appoint them. Still, if the election hangs on a razor-thin number of ballots and an election-deciding case were to land in front of the justices, Trump likes his chances of getting five votes to win. That’s because with the addition of Justice Amy Coney Barrett this week, conservatives now hold six of the court’s nine seats. And Trump gave three of those conservatives their jobs. An election-deciding case isn’t far-fetched, either, of course. Two decades ago, when the disputed 2000 election came down to Florida, the court voted 5-4 along ideological lines to essentially settle the election in favor of Republican George W. Bush.

In this presidential election cycle, the high court already has been pulled into fights surrounding voting, and both parties and the president acknowledge an environment ripe for additional legal challenges. So far, the high court has been asked to rule on a flurry of election-related cases where Republicans have challenged and Democrats defended the loosening of voting rules because of the coronavirus pandemic. More litigation is likely ahead, a reason Trump pushed to get Barrett confirmed quickly so she could be on the court before Nov. 3. Of course, any challenges could also have little impact if either Trump or former Vice President Joe Biden wins decisively.

So far, the high court has dealt with election cases involving Alabama, Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.