RFK Jr asks US Supreme Court to remove his name from Michigan ballot

By Andrés Chung

(Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to remove his name from the ballot in Michigan, once again putting pressure on the nation’s highest judicial body to intervene in his fights to remain in office. the ballot in some states while dropping out in others.

Lawyers for the former independent presidential candidate filed an emergency request for an order requiring Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to remove him from the ballot for the upcoming Nov. 5 presidential election. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Donald Trump.

It is Kennedy’s third trip to the Supreme Court opposing election decisions by state officials. On Wednesday he also asked the court to remove his name from the ballot in Wisconsin. In September, the Supreme Court rejected his attempt to appear at the polls again in New York.

When Kennedy suspended his campaign, he promised to withdraw in the most battleground states but remain on the ballot elsewhere. Kennedy has since urged his supporters everywhere to back Trump and has withdrawn from elections in several Republican-leaning states.

Benson rejected Kennedy’s requests to withdraw, prompting him to file a lawsuit in state court. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled against him in September.

He then sued in federal court, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, also sided with Benson on September 27. With the ballots printed, Kennedy “does not explain how to ring the bell at this time without great damage.” to the right to vote and to the public’s interest in fair and efficient election administration,” the Sixth Circuit said in its opinion.

In Friday’s filing, Kennedy’s lawyers said Benson’s action to keep him on the ballot infringes on his right to free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and “opens the floodgates for the Secretaries of States throughout the United States have unlimited authority to violate the law. “

In his attempt to remove himself from the Wisconsin ballot, Kennedy asked the justices for an injunction “ordering the Wisconsin Elections Commission to cover his name with stickers.”

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)