## Facts

- During the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted election-related changes but kept the statutory rule requiring absentee ballots to be postmarked by Election Day and received within three days after Election Day.
- The North Carolina State Board of Elections, through a settlement and related rules, extended the absentee-ballot receipt deadline by six days, allowing receipt up to nine days after Election Day (November 12, 2020).
- Republican legislative leaders sought to block the extension, arguing the Board lacked authority to alter the legislatively set deadline for federal elections.
- A federal district court denied relief.
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit declined to enjoin the extension.
- The legislative leaders applied to the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency injunctive relief to stop enforcement of the extended deadline.

## Issues

1. Whether the Supreme Court should grant emergency injunctive relief to prevent enforcement of the State Board of Elections’ extended absentee-ballot receipt deadline in place of the deadline set by the state legislature.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court denied the application for injunctive relief in a summary order.
- Justice Barrett took no part in the consideration or decision.
- Justice Thomas would have granted the application.
- Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Alito, dissented from the denial.
- The denial left the Board’s extended receipt deadline in effect for the 2020 election.

## Legal Principles

- Emergency orders denying injunctive relief may issue without explanation and do not resolve the underlying merits questions in a full, reasoned opinion.
- The Elections Clause assigns primary authority to prescribe the “Times, Places and Manner” of federal elections to state legislatures, subject to congressional alteration; disputes may arise when nonlegislative state actors modify election rules set by statute.
- In the emergency posture, the Court’s disposition reflects an assessment of stay factors (including likelihood of success and equitable considerations) without a merits holding.

## Conclusion

The Supreme Court declined to enjoin North Carolina’s administratively adopted extension of the absentee-ballot receipt deadline for the 2020 election, leaving the extension operative while dissenting justices argued that the Elections Clause limits nonlegislative alterations of legislatively enacted federal-election rules.


Moore v. Circosta, 141 S. Ct. 46 (2020)