Democrats took painstaking efforts to kick Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. off the presidential ballot when they thought his presence would hurt Vice President Kamala Harris. But after Kennedy dropped out of the race in key swing states and endorsed former President Donald Trump, Democrats in Michigan and Wisconsin fought to keep Kennedy on the ballot despite his objections. And on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kennedy’s emergency appeal to have his name removed from the ballots in those states.
Kennedy‘s emergency appeal to the high court to have his name removed from the ballot in Michigan and Wisconsin argued that keeping him on the ballot was a violation of his First Amendment right. But the Supreme Court rejected the appeal on Tuesday without any reason.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5 to 1 in September to keep Kennedy on the ballot, arguing that state law prohibits the removal of a presidential nominee from the ballot unless the candidate dies.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson originally refused to remove Kennedy from the ballot, arguing that the third party under which Kennedy was running wouldn’t be able to nominate another candidate before the election. The Michigan Supreme Court and 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Benson.
Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented Tuesday in the Michigan case, arguing that lower court judges had thought the timing “of Kennedy’s original request to be removed wasn’t so unreasonable that it should be denied,” as reported by The Associated Press.
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