The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a request by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign committee to have him reinstated on New York’s 2024 presidential ballot. Kennedy, who suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Donald Trump, was removed from the ballot after a New York court ruled that the address on his nominating petition was invalid. Kennedy’s legal team had argued that the address requirement was merely a technicality and that excluding him from the ballot would infringe on the rights of his supporters.
Kennedy originally launched his presidential campaign in 2023, first running as a Democrat and later as an Independent. Despite collecting the necessary signatures to appear on New York’s ballot, several voters challenged his nomination, citing that the address he provided—an apartment in New York—wasn’t his true residence, which is in California.
A lower court decision last month found the address to be a “sham” used to further Kennedy’s political ambitions in New York, leading to his removal from the ballot. After losing his appeal in the state’s highest court and failing to get relief in federal court, Kennedy took his case to the Supreme Court earlier this week, but his request was denied without comment or recorded dissents.
Kennedy’s team argued that the address requirement was irrelevant to voters or the state and should not impact his eligibility. They also cited a 1983 Supreme Court ruling in favor of John Anderson, an independent candidate who had met substantive requirements but missed Ohio’s filing deadline, arguing that a similar principle should apply to Kennedy’s case.
New York officials countered that reinstating Kennedy would disrupt the election process, as ballots had already been mailed to military and overseas voters. They also emphasized that Kennedy’s legal battles on this issue had already been lost in state court, and he has suspended his campaign, further minimizing any harm from his exclusion.
The court’s decision comes a week after it upheld a ruling in a similar case involving the Green Party’s presidential candidate in Nevada.
Well, we suppose this means Donald Trump has a chance of winning New York now…
