A unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court today rejected Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid to be taken off the state’s presidential ballot.
The justices knocked Kennedy’s legal briefs as “inadequate” as he tried to persuade them that a Dane County judge had erroneously rejected Kennedy’s request for a temporary injunction barring the Elections Commission from placing him on the ballot.
Kennedy argued keeping him on the ballot would violate constitutional rights to equal protection, free expression and the freedom of association. But the court found his briefs failed “to develop those arguments to even a minimal standard sufficient for us to consider their merits.” That left no sufficient argument to persuade them Judge Stephen Ehlke made a mistake.
The court’s decision came down the same day the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Kennedy’s bid to persuade those justices to place him on the ballot in New York.
At the heart of the case is a state law that states anyone who files signatures to run for office and qualifies to appear on the ballot may not decline the nomination. Kennedy filed his nomination papers ahead of the Aug. 6 deadline, but then announced he was suspending his campaign in swing states and urging his supporters there to support Donald Trump. The Elections Commission voted 5-1 to place Kennedy on the ballot, citing the requirement in state law.
With ballots already in the hands of voters, Kennedy had urged the courts to direct local election officials to place stickers over his name. That option is allowed for candidates who die after they’re placed on the ballot, and the independent wants that extended to his case after he dropped out of the race and endorsed Donald Trump.
The court’s ruling didn’t address Kennedy’s suggestion, which the state Department of Justice had labeled a “logistical nightmare.” The seven-page ruling focused almost entirely on the background in the suit and Kennedy’s failure to provide sufficient arguments to support his constitutional claims.
The decision comes more than a week after local election officials began sending absentee ballots to Wisconsin voters. As of this morning’s update from the state Elections Commission, local clerks have already sent 425,554 absentee ballots, and voters had returned 42,767.
