On Monday, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the battlefield in November’s presidential election. set aside the decision of the lower court agreed to remove it last week.
The Supreme Court majority wrote in its order that Kennedy, who ended his independent bid for the White House last month, and supported former President Donald Trumpdid not point to a specific “source of law” calling for the state to be removed from the ballot.
As a third-party presidential candidate, Kennedy had struggled to get on the ballot in a key state, but he tried to distance himself after dropping out, hoping not to act as a spoiler in the race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, sued to remove Kennedy from office after she said it was too late to remove him from the ballot.
Kennedy’s legal efforts delayed the mailing of election officials’ postal ballots He won a petition to remove his name from the ballot in North Carolina. Michigan officials wanted the issue resolved quickly, as the state’s ballots are required by law to be printed soon. Military and overseas ballots must be mailed by Sept. 21, and absentee ballots will be mailed shortly thereafter on Sept. 26.
Michigan Supreme Court Justices David Viviano and Brian Zahra argued that the ruling would only serve to reinforce distrust in the election system by forcing voters to consider a candidate who is unwilling to serve if elected.
“As a result of the court’s decision, printed ballots will have the potential to confuse voters, distort their choices, distort the true will of the people, and affect the outcome of the election,” they wrote. “In short, the Court’s decision will do nothing to restore public confidence in the fairness and integrity of our elections.”