In a 5-2 decision, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling, keeping independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name on the November ballot. This decision effectively closed Kennedy’s legal avenues to remove himself from the ballot after he ended his independent campaign and endorsed former President Donald Trump.
The Michigan Supreme Court’s decision could potentially influence the tight race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. CNBC reported that even though Harris holds a lead over Trump in Michigan polling regardless of how many candidates are running, her lead shrinks when Kennedy’s name is removed and she and Trump face off head-to-head.
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The court’s majority opinion stated Kennedy “has neither pointed to any source of law that prescribes and defines a duty to withdraw a candidate’s name from the ballot nor demonstrated his clear legal right to performance of this specific duty.”
The two dissenting justices voiced concerns about potential voter confusion.
“Countless Michigan voters may be deluded and deceived into casting their ballots for a candidate who has no intention to hold the office,” the dissenting justices wrote. “We can only hope that the secretary’s misguided action now sanctioned with the imprimatur of this court will not have national implications.”
Kennedy’s attorney asserted that the issue “plainly has nothing to do with ballot or election integrity” and that the aim is “to have unwitting Michigan voters throw away their votes on a withdrawn candidate.”
RKF posted a nearly three-minute video to X after the decision came down, sharing a message to voters who might be confused.
“A lot of people are asking me if they live in a red state or a blue state, should they still be voting for me?” Kennedy said. “What about swing states? The answer is easy. No. No matter what state you live in, you should be voting for Donald Trump.”
In a contrasting decision, the North Carolina State Supreme Court ruled 4-3 to keep Kennedy’s name off the November ballot.
