The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on March 23 regarding whether federal Election Day law pre-empts a state law allowing election workers to count mail-in ballots received after Election Day.

A band of conservatives including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) urge the high court in an amicus brief to be filed on Thursday to consider the inevitable harms that would follow permitting states to flout the Constitution and render Election Day little more than an “abstraction,” Blaze News has exclusively learned.

‘Congress chose one day for federal elections, and one day only.’

The case in question, Watson v. Republican National Committee, is the result of a years-long battle over a COVID-era Mississippi law passed by the Magnolia State’s Republican trifecta that permits the counting of mail-in absentee ballots postmarked by the date of the election but received up to five business days after Election Day.

The RNC and the Mississippi GOP stressed at the outset that mail-in voting is “starkly polarized by party” and “the late-arriving mail-in ballots that are counted for five additional days disproportionately break for Democrats.”

While it has narrowed since 2020, the partisan divide in mail-in voting remained substantial in the 2024 election — which helps explain why so many Democrat-aligned groups have defended the practice and the Mississippi law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled against Mississippi in October 2024, stating that its late-ballot counting statute was pre-empted by federal law. Last year, however, the state asked SCOTUS to get involved and reinstate its post-Election Day grace period.

RELATED: Lone Republican defies Trump, votes to tank the SAVE Act

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Mississippi maintains that late counts are acceptable as “federal election-day statutes require only that the voters cast their ballots by election day” — that “an election requires ballot casting — not ballot receipt.”

Sen. Lee, eight other GOP senators, and 15 congressional Republicans joined the American Center for Law and Justice in filing an amicus brief on Thursday in support of the legal challenge, underscoring that Mississippi’s absentee ballot scheme threatens the electoral reliability and uniformity “foundational to democratic government.”

Lee said in a statement to Blaze News, “Congress, exercising its constitutional authority to set the times, places, and manner of federal elections, designated one federal Election Day.”

“States counting ballots received after Election Day clearly violate the certainty, finality, and trust Congress intended to establish by having nationwide elections take place on one set date,” continued the senator.

The brief:

emphasizes that the purpose of the relevant federal Election Day statutes “was and is to prevent voter fraud and state manipulation of federal elections and to promote uniformity in the selection of federal officers”;rejects “the notion that strict construction of this arrangement violates principles of federalism”; andseeks to show “how, absent strict construction of the Election Day Statutes, there is no limiting principle and thus the Constitution’s Election Clause would be meaningless or unenforceable.”

“A Constitution that so jealously rationed federal power chose, in this specific domain, to speak unequivocally: Congress would have the last word in the ‘Times’ of Elections for federal officers,” says the brief. “Congress exercised that power here. It picked a day. One day.”

The brief intimated that should the state law and the corresponding legal interpretation stand, the “very evils Congress enacted the Election Day statutes to prevent — rolling elections, strategic voting, and prolonged uncertainty” — would be likely become inevitable.

The brief suggests further that to treat Election Day as a “philosophical concept untethered to actual deadlines” would liberate states from much-needed guardrails and render them “free to continue the election well beyond the Congressional mandated election day.”

“Congress chose one day for federal elections, and one day only,” the brief says in closing. “The counting of late-arrived ballots [flouts] this choice by altering the pool of received votes after Election Day, in other words, by changing the results of an election that has already taken place.”

Sen. Lee noted that he looks forward “to the Supreme Court recognizing that states are not permitted to conduct interminable rolling elections with late-arriving ballot surprises that invite fraud and undermine trust in American elections.”

Should the high court affirm that federal law pre-empts the state law, 18 other states would likely be impacted.

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The Super Bowl LX halftime show is going down in history as the first halftime show to be performed nearly entirely in Spanish — a factor that didn’t seem to bother those reporting on the performance in the mainstream media.

“The headlines were glowing. The mainstream media loved this halftime show. They just freaking love it. They loved it,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere says on “Stu Does America,” pointing out a Rolling Stone headline that reads, “Right-wingers who boycotted halftime show still saw enough of it to be furious.”

“I was not furious about it. It was not enjoyable for me. And, you know, again, I will say I don’t like most of the halftime shows, even when they’re speaking the language that I can understand. This made it even more difficult to enjoy,” he continues.

And while those critical of the right for not loving the performance appear to believe it’s a symptom of racism, Stu is well aware that couldn’t be further from the truth.

“People keep bringing this up as if Latin culture is the thing that people are questioning. Now, we’ve had tons of Latin culture at previous Super Bowl halftime shows. Shakira was at a Super Bowl halftime show. There’s probably five to 10 different examples of people performing within Latin culture at Super Bowl halftime shows,” he says.

“The issue here is that the people in the crowd and the people watching on television couldn’t understand the words being sung. This is a very basic thing. A language is not a cultural statement. A language is a mechanism to allow others to understand what you’re talking about. That’s what it is,” he continues.

“So, when you’re talking to an audience that speaks almost entirely English, it usually would benefit you to have an artist that can communicate to the people watching,” he adds, pointing out that commercials are in English when the audience speaks English for the same reason.

“Why didn’t the announcers just call the entire game in Spanish? Why not? Because they were trying to communicate what was going on at the game,” he explains.

“The bottom line here is, the NFL had a choice to make, and they made this choice with very specific things in mind. Because, as I said, when you try to communicate to a specific audience, you choose the language that they speak,” he adds.

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The House passed a historic election integrity bill Wednesday night with the help of just one Democrat.

Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy’s SAVE America Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, passed the House in a 218-213 vote with the support of every House Republican, including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, a vulnerable candidate who was pardoned by President Donald Trump on bribery and money-laundering charges, was the sole Democrat to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans.

‘There’s a false rumor that I voted against the Save America Act today.’

“I support the SAVE America Act because I believe in a fundamental principle: American citizens should decide American elections,” Cuellar said in a post on X, defying his entire party. “That principle strengthens our democracy and protects the value of every vote.”

“This is the same secure but practical approach Texas already uses — strong photo ID standards with real fallback options — and it’s a big reason Texas has some of the strongest election security laws in the country.”

RELATED: Exclusive: Republicans pen OMAR Act, targeting lawmakers who have ‘blurred’ ethical lines

Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Following the bill’s passage, Massie clarified his support for the legislation after initially voting against a procedural vote on the SAVE America Act.

“There’s a false rumor that I voted against the Save America Act today,” Massie clarified in a post on X on Wednesday. “I’ll vote for it when it comes to the floor.”

“I voted against a ‘rule’ that allows it to get a vote, but the ‘rule’ also suspends house rules and allows spending bills to come to the floor with no 24hr notice!”

RELATED: Rogue Republicans side with Democrats, revolting against Trump’s key economic policy

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With the House’s stamp of approval, the SAVE America Act is headed to the Senate, where onlookers anxiously wait to see if it will garner enough support. As of this writing, 46 Republicans including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.) have co-sponsored the legislation.

“I’d be hard pressed to have to defend a position that doesn’t believe that you have to be an American citizen to vote in an American election,” Thune said.

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America has always been a nation of immigrants, and that legacy has been one of our greatest strengths. I know this because I lived it.

As a Lebanese-born American who came to this country legally, built a life through hard work, and now thrives as a venture capitalist and innovator in life sciences, I am living proof of what the American dream can deliver when immigration is done right. My family arrived through the proper channels, embraced the values, language, and culture of this country, and assimilated fully into the fabric of American society. That is how it should be.

The American dream is too precious to dilute. Let’s restore order, enforce the law, and keep it alive for generations to come.

For much of our history, controlled immigration brought talent, energy, and new ideas that fueled American growth and innovation. Waves of legal immigrants from Europe, Asia, and elsewhere contributed enormously while integrating into the American way of life. Immigration worked because it was lawful, deliberate, and tied to assimilation.

But something changed in the 2000s, and it has accelerated dramatically in recent years.

What we see today is an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration, arriving at a scale that overwhelms our systems and defies enforcement. This is not the merit-based, assimilable immigration that built America. It is mass unmanaged entry, often without the time, scale, or structure required for successful integration. The result is strain on communities, erosion of social cohesion, and enormous pressure on public resources.

Assimilation is not optional — it’s essential.

Successful immigrants learn English, respect our laws, adopt our civic values, and contribute positively over generations. When inflows are too rapid and lack incentives to assimilate, pockets of parallel societies form, weakening the national unity that has always been our glue. History shows that when we prioritize assimilation — through language requirements, civic education, and limits on scale — we succeed. When we don’t, division follows.

RELATED: Blame bias, not Bezos, for the Washington Post’s downfall

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This is not a moral indictment of individuals seeking opportunity. It is a condemnation of a broken system that rewards lawlessness and punishes those who follow the rules.

The economic damage is real, and it falls hardest on working Americans.

Illegal immigration represents a direct economic attack on America’s middle and lower classes. Illegal workers compete directly for jobs in construction, hospitality, agriculture, and service industries, driving down wages and displacing American citizens and legal residents who depend on those opportunities. Housing demand rises. Schools and hospitals become overcrowded. Social services are stretched thin, often while illegal workers pay little or no taxes.

The hardest hit are working-class Americans — the very people who built this country and deserve protection from unfair competition.

We are also told that our economy would collapse without this illegal labor. That claim is insulting hyperbole. Nevada, my home state, is resilient. Businesses can and will adapt by raising wages, investing in automation, or hiring legally through existing visa programs for workers who follow the rules and wait their turn.

RELATED: The taboo conservatives refuse to confront

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Legal, high-skilled immigration adds tremendous value through innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity gains. We do not need to sacrifice our sovereignty or our workers to achieve growth.

It is time for bold action.

I support a clearly defined, temporary moratorium on most nonessential immigration categories to secure the border fully, enforce existing law, and remove those here illegally. This pause would give us breathing room to reform the system: prioritize high-skilled talent, enforce strict assimilation requirements, limit family-based chain migration that bypasses merit, and restore a steady, controlled immigration pipeline that benefits America first.

That’s stewardship, not cruelty.

America saved my life and gave me opportunities I could never have imagined. I owe this country everything — and that is why I demand that we fix immigration now, before the damage becomes irreversible.

The American dream is too precious to dilute. Let’s restore order, enforce the law, and keep it alive for generations to come.

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