The Georgia Supreme Court won’t come to the rescue of Republicans who want seven new rule changes to go into effect which were approved by the state’s election board.

The high court ruled on this unanimously. But it wasn’t a ruling on the merits of the new rule changes. It was simply a refusal to reinstate the rules blocked by a lower court.

Here’s more from CNN:

The Georgia Supreme Court won’t let the state election board enforce a slate of controversial new election rules that were passed by allies of Donald Trump, ruling Tuesday against Republicans who asked for them to be revived as early voting got underway in the critical battleground state.

The order is a major victory for Democrats and others who have filed a slew of lawsuits against the rules, arguing the board exceeded its authority when it passed them.

Among the seven rules is one that would require county election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before certifying them and another that would allow them to “examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.”

Other rules would have required officials to hand-count the number of ballots cast at each polling place on Election Day, expanded the number of areas poll watchers can access and required after-hour video surveillance of drop boxes at early voting locations.

Georgia, whose 16 electoral votes are crucial for both Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, has been seeing high early voter turnout in the 2024 election. State election official Gabriel Sterling said on Tuesday that 25% of the state’s active voters have already cast a ballot.

The unanimous decision from the conservative-majority court was technical; the justices did not rule on the legality of the seven rules but instead declined to pause a decision issued by a lower-court judge last week that struck them down.

The order from Georgia’s highest court means the State Election Board cannot direct local election officials to follow the rules while a legal challenge to them plays out before the court. And it guarantees that the rules won’t affect this election cycle.

The court on Tuesday also turned down a request from the Republicans for the justices to fast-track their review of the rules. The order said that the court would hear the case “in the ordinary course.”