The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected an attempt by the Green Party to regain access to the presidential ballot in Nevada.
The Nevada Green Party last week filed an emergency application asking the nation’s highest court to overturn a ruling from the state Supreme Court that the party’s attempt to qualify for the ballot did not abide by state rules. The lawyer representing the party was Jay Sekulow, who previously represented former President Donald Trump and argued the state Supreme Court violated the party’s due process and equal protection rights.
There were no noted dissents in the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling, which did not provide a reason for denying the emergency application.
The ruling is the final nail in the coffin for the Nevada Green Party’s efforts to gain a spot on the presidential ballot and marks another win for the Nevada Democratic Party, which sought to block the party from qualifying for the ballot amid fears that it could siphon off votes from dissatisfied left-leaning Nevadans. The Green Party has not qualified for the ballot in the Silver State since 2008.
The Nevada Green Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nevada Democrats had argued that the minor party’s petition contained the wrong affidavit language, invalidating the signatures gathered to land on the ballot. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed, with two justices dissenting.
The affidavits signed by petition circulators included the language for initiative petitions to qualify for the ballot, not minor political parties, which omits a sentence stating the circulator believes all signees were registered voters in the county they reside. This legally deficient language was recommended by the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office in its guide for minor political parties, but the high court’s majority ruled that this error did not absolve the Green Party’s legal obligation to use the right form.
Dissenting Justices Kristina Pickering and Douglas Herndon wrote that they believed the ruling “excuses an egregious error by the Secretary of State’s office that will result in a significant injustice.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling all but ensures that no party with the potential to play spoiler in the election has qualified for the ballot, as independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will also not appear on Silver State ballots.
