Mississippi
Court appears ready to overturn state law allowing for late-arriving mail-in ballots
The Supreme Court on Monday appeared ready to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and then received within five business days of, Election Day. After just over two hours of oral argument in Watson v. Republican National Committee, a majority of justices seemed to agree with the challengers – which included the Republican Party of Mississippi and the Libertarian Party of Mississippi – that the Mississippi law conflicts with federal laws that set the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the “election day.”
Because more than a dozen states have similar laws, the court’s ruling – which is expected by late June or early July – could have significant implications for federal elections, beginning as soon as November.
Mississippi passed the law at the center of the case in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four years later, the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi Republican Party, a Mississippi voter, and a county election official went to court to challenge the law, as did the Libertarian Party of Mississippi in a separate lawsuit (which was later combined with the Republicans’ lawsuit). They argued that Mississippi’s law clashed with a federal law, enacted by Congress in 1845, that establishes the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as “election day.” In 1872, Congress directed that congressional elections should occur on this day, as well.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit agreed with the challengers that federal law requires all ballots to be received by Election Day. After the full court of appeals – over a dissent by five judges – rejected the state’s petition to rehear the case, the state went to the Supreme Court, which agreed in November to weigh in.
At Monday’s oral argument, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart told the justices that states have broad power over elections. Laws like Mississippi’s, he argued, are consistent with federal election laws because voters make their final choices by Election Day.
Paul Clement, representing the challengers, countered that when Congress initially passed the law establishing the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as “Election Day,” the casting of ballots and the state’s receipt of ballots were “so inextricably intertwined” that “no one would have thought of one without the other” – supporting his argument that a ballot is final (and the election therefore occurs) when it is received by election officials.
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued on behalf of the Trump administration, which filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting the challengers. Sauer told the court that “Mississippi’s theory of election is so general and permissive that it would authorize statutes that Congress could not possibly have approved in the 19th century.”
Several justices focused on the history of election practices and what it might mean for Congress’ understanding of “Election Day” when it enacted the laws at the center of this case. Clement emphasized the “unbroken historical tradition” for much of the 19th century and early 20th century of requiring ballots to be received (normally through in-person voting) on Election Day.
But the lawyers and justices sparred over the significance of departures from that tradition during the Civil War, when some Union states allowed soldiers to vote from the battlefields. Clement insisted that proxy voting was the most analogous to today’s absentee ballots. Five states, he said, still required ballots to be submitted and received in a soldier’s home state by Election Day. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the justices who was most sympathetic to Mississippi, responded that two states had allowed officers to collect and mail-in ballots for soldiers.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, who appeared considerably less sympathetic to Mississippi, expressed concern that voters could recall or revoke their votes before they were actually counted, so that their final choices would not occur before Election Day. Gorsuch asked Stewart to address a hypothetical scenario in which, after Election Day but before a winner is declared, a candidate is revealed to have been colluding with a foreign power. As a result, Gorsuch posited, some absentee voters could recall their mail-in ballots and switch their votes, changing the outcome of the election.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pushed back, emphasizing that in her view the case was not about either ballot recalls or what the history of election practices might have been. Instead, she stressed, the dispute before the justices was over who decides the date by which ballots must be received, and, in particular, whether Congress has prohibited the states from making those decisions. “We’re trying … to figure out,” she said, “what Congress meant when it included Election Day in its federal statutes.”
Justice Samuel Alito suggested that in defending the law, Mississippi faced “a variety of line-drawing problems” – the idea that the state’s position, if taken to its logical conclusion, could lead to extreme and (at least in Alito’s view) undesirable outcomes. For example, he asked Stewart, how long after Election Day can states count ballots?
Stewart’s answer – that states get to make the initial decision, but Congress can always step in to impose limits – proved unsatisfying to Alito.
But Jackson once again pushed back, telling Alito that line-drawing problems “are only problems to the extent that Congress thought they were problems.” The question before the court, she noted, is whether Congress intended to “cabin” the states’ decisions regarding Election Day. And indeed, she said, several federal laws – such as those governing voting for military and overseas voters – indicate that Congress intended to incorporate state laws establishing post-election ballot-receipt deadlines into federal law.
Jackson later noted that Congress is currently considering a bill that would prohibit states from counting ballots received after Election Day. The fact that it believes such legislation is necessary, she posited, indicates that Congress believes that federal law currently permits laws like Mississippi’s.
Justice Elena Kagan echoed Jackson’s thinking. She observed that a 2022 law intended to clarify the process for casting and counting of presidential electors, the Electoral Count Reform Act, specifically refers to “the period of voting.” The use of that phrase, she told Clement, implied that Congress is “fine” with states having a “period” for voting, rather than a single day.
Clement answered that the phrase “period of voting” was intended to refer to early voting. But that answer seemed to create some difficulty for the challengers, as various justices pressed both Sauer and Clement about why, under their position, the statute would allow early voting (which was also not used in early U.S. history) but preclude ballots received after Election Day.
Clement told the court that early voting does not “vitiate the whole idea of an Election Day” in the same way that counting ballots received after Election Day does. And in particular, he emphasized, it does not raise the same concerns about fraud – which were at the core of Congress’ motives in passing the law at the center of the case in the first place.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh had a practical question for Clement. If the court were to rule for the challengers in a decision issued in June, Kavanaugh queried, would it be too late to implement that decision for the 2026 elections?
Clement responded that it would not be. Under federal law, he noted, absentee ballots must go out to military and overseas voters 45 days before the general election in November – which would mean that states would have to mail them in mid-September.
As Kavanaugh’s question suggests, a decision in the case is expected by late June or early July.
Cases: Watson v. Republican National Committee (Election Law)
Recommended Citation:
Amy Howe,
Court appears ready to overturn state law allowing for late-arriving mail-in ballots,
SCOTUSblog (Mar. 23, 2026, 3:41 PM),
https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/court-appears-ready-to-overturn-state-law-allowing-for-late-arriving-mail-in-ballots/
Tupleo (Miss.) linebacker Devontray Brewer just announced his commitment to Stanford and broke down why he chose the Cardinal.
Stanford is coming off a big recruiting weekend and have landed multiple commitments so far. Brewer just announced he’ll be playing his college ball out West in what is a really nice pickup for the Cardinal.
“The academics at Stanford was the main reason I committed,” Brewer said. “It really doesn’t get any better than Stanford and I also loved the coaching staff and their energy all weekend.
“They’re ready to bring that every day and that’s something I want to be around. You can feel the program is turning around and they will be back on the map and I’m excited to get to be a part of that.”
Brewer said this was his first time visiting the West Coast.
“That was my first time out West and I felt very comfortable,” Brewer said. “I can definitely see myself out there in the future and that was another reason I committed, the strong comfort level.
“Going in to the visit, I really planning on committing. Once I was there though, I just felt it in my gut. I got that feeling in my heart that this is where I belonged so I went ahead and made my decision.”
Brewer said he loved the scheme fit as well.
“I love the defense they run,” Brewer said. “With coach (Kris) Richard as the defensive coordinator, that’s a defense that’s going to be feared.
“I fit in well and they plan to play me as a mike ‘backer (inside LB). I’ll be calling the plays for the defense so I’m really excited.”
Brewer had a big junior season, totaling 119 tackles, 10 for loss and 4.5 sacks. He’s rated the No. 543 player nationally in the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services and the No. 14 player in the state.
He was a standout at the Rivals Combine in Nashville where he measured in at a solid 6-foot-1, 235 pounds, clocked a 4.75-40, jumped 35″ in the vertical and broad jumped 121″.
US in a tight squeeze as water demands soar
The US water supply is buckling under the weight of drought, the water demands of AI data centers and aging water infrastructure.
The Mississippi Public Service Commission has made a ruling that paves the way for Gabriel Prado and his company PraCon Global investment Group to move forward with plans to potentially build a data center in the Jackson area.
The Public Service Commission’s ruling could transform how energy usage is delivered, particularly for the data center economy in Mississippi and next generation AI industrial development, in theory protecting consumers from long-term energy cost increases.
“PraCon Global investment Group welcomes the decision of the Mississippi Public Service Commission that leaves intact the plain language of Mississippi law and declines to reinterpret or narrow the long-standing statutory exemption that allows companies to construct, own, and operate electric generationfacilities for their own private commercial use without regulation as a public utility,” Prado said. “Asstated in its Request, PRADO AI’s proposed power generation facilities will serve its planned AI data center and AI semiconductor manufacturing campus.
“By declining to issue a declaratory opinion, the commission did not alter, limit or reinterpret the statutory exemption contained in Mississippi Code §77-3-3(d). PRADO AI celebrates that the PSC and Mississippi law continues to operate exactly as written by the Mississippi Legislature, allowing private companies to generate electricity for their own facilities without being classified as a public utility.”
The ruling is also a step for Prado and his company, which plans to jump into the fray to compete in the data center explosion as he intends to add large scale AI industrial infrastructure projects, including “AI semiconductor facilities” and data centers across Mississippi.
Large utilities’ role in Mississippi data center economy
As Mississippi gets deeper and deeper into a data center economy that is going to require copious amounts of energy over the next decade, Entergy Mississippi pushed all its chips in the middle of the table.
Entergy Mississippi made a five-year investment in 2025 into what it called reliable energy to keep rates lower. Those investments, Entergy has said, will be paid for by companies such as Amazon.
Meanwhile, states throughout the nation are pushing back on the data center economy, in part because of fears of rising energy costs.
In May, Maine lawmakers passed the first U.S. statewide moratorium on new, large data centers to study impacts on energy rates and environmental resources.
Last week in Jackson, dozens of Jackson residents — some with signs that read “No Data Centers,” “Can’t Drink Data” and “Jackson is our City” packed shoulder-to-shoulder into the small conference room inside the Warren Hood Building on Wednesday, May 27.
It all goes back to available energy
The one thing that data center developers AWS, Compass Data in Meridian and AVAIO Digital in Brandon have talked about is the ability of the state’s energy companies to deliver at a breakneck speed. In the case of Compass, it has been Mississippi Power, but for AWS, at both Madison campuses and the Warren County campus and then AVAIO, it has been Entergy.
Mark McComiskey, AVAIO Digital CEO2, made that case clear in August, when talking about why his company chose Mississippi, in general and Brandon, specifically.
“The Greater Jackson area is poised to become a new hub for cloud computing and AI development, and we are delighted to partner with the city of Brandon to make a significant investment in expanding the region’s digital and energy infrastructure,” McComiskey said.
Interstate 20 across Mississippi may come to be known as the Data Center Corridor because of availble energy built by Entergy.
Prado’s plan for economic development
Prado, meanwhile, wants to have energy production on site, unlike what Entergy and Southern Company do with grids across the state. Prado’s plan, he said, also would not be like what Elon Musk’s XAI did with turbines that created severe noise pollution in North Mississippi.
Prado said he has identified multiple sites in Mississippi for development of advanced AI industrial campuses, which would have AI semiconductor fabrication facilities and data center campuses.
The projects are structured, he said, so that electricity is not sold or resold, but instead provided as an “incidental component or real estate leasing arrangements”, which Prado said is consistent with Mississippi law.
If he is able to do that, Prado wants to take the data center economy to places that currently don’t have sufficiently built-out grids from Entergy or Southern Company, such as places in the Mississippi Delta or even Southwest Mississippi.
Prado is relying on language in Mississippi Code 77-3-3(d), which says that an entity is not a public utility and will not be treated as such if “it provides electricity to itself or to tenants as an incident of tenancy.”
The filing to the PSC states any of Prado’s power generation facilities will operate off-grid, serving only on-site electrical demand, with no electricity being sold to the public or third parties.
“By self-generating energy on site, we ensure that 100% of the cost of powering AI semiconductor and AI cloud computing operations is borne by the company and is not passed on to Mississippi rate payers over time,” Prado said.
How is the power generated?
Samsung is doing something similar in Texas with a $17 billion project.
However, Prado has not fully explained the details of his project and how it will work.
“We are building long-term, environmentally responsible AI industrial infrastructure, not short-term fixes,” Prado said. “This is about doing it right from day one, with reliability, sustainability and community impact in mind.”
Who is Gabriel Prado?
To this point, Prado, who lives in Jackson, has only ventured into commercial real estate and development.
In December 2024, Prado helped bring to life Topgolf, as the sports entertainment venue opened in Ridgeland with much fanfare as part of the Prado Vista development just off of I-55.
And while Topgolf is the drawing card for the development northeast of the Renaissance at Colony Park, the project has promise of more with shopping and an array of other options..
One of the outgrowths from Topgolf being the anchor of the 77-acre mixed-use development was to include office, retail and restaurant space, and the potential of homes for sale, among other things.
This new data center economy venture would seem to take the Belhaven University graduate to a different level of commitment in the business world of Mississippi.
This is a developing story.
Charlie Drape contributed to this story.
Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WLBT) – Mississippi State hit seven home runs and scored 19 runs to defeat Louisiana 19-5 in the Starkville Regional final Sunday night.
Jacob Parker and Ryder Woodson each hit two home runs for the Bulldogs. Parker went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and five runs scored, while Woodson finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
Early power surge
Mississippi State took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on solo home runs by Gehrig Frei and Parker. Woodson added a solo homer in the second inning to make it 3-0.
Louisiana’s Nate Lewis hit a solo home run in the third inning to cut the lead to 3-1.
Bulldogs pull away with four-run fourth
Mississippi State scored four runs in the fourth inning. Kevin Milewski drove in Reed Stallman with an RBI single, Frei added an RBI hit and Ace Reese hit a two-run homer to right-center to make it 7-1.
Woodson drove in a run with a single in the fifth inning. Louisiana scored one run in the sixth inning to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Five-run seventh extends lead
Mississippi State scored five runs in the seventh inning. Parker hit an RBI double, Vytas Valincius followed with an RBI double and Stallman hit an RBI triple. Woodson capped the inning with a two-run homer to left to extend the lead to 13-5 at the end of the seventh.
Parker, Valincius deliver final blows
Parker hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning, a two-run shot that made it 15-5.
Valincius hit a grand slam in the ninth inning to push the lead to 19-5.
Strong performances throughout lineup
Frei finished with four hits, three runs scored and two RBIs. Noah Sullivan had three hits and scored three runs.
Ryan McPherson pitched five innings for Mississippi State, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Up Next
Mississippi State now heads to the Athens Super Regional where they will face 3-seed Georgia, a team that swept the Diamond Dawgs this season.
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