Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court over Wisconsin's refusal to remove his name from the presidential ballot, The Hill reported. Kennedy dropped out of the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump, and some worry that including his name on the ballot could siphon votes from the GOP candidate.
Kennedy has been through the wringer during this presidential election season. After Democrats stonewalled him and his presidential bid, Kennedy switched parties before joining forces with Trump. The GOP candidate and his supporters rejoiced that they were joining forces.
This came after Kennedy ran as an independent candidate due to difficulty getting his name on some of the state's ballots. However, since dropping out, Kennedy has experienced the opposite problem, as some states insist on keeping his name in place.
The latest fight happened after the Wisconsin Elections Commission ruled that Kennedy would remain on the ballot since independent candidates must withdraw sooner than major party candidates to remove their names. Kennedy took this issue to the high court Wednesday in an emergency request docket, claiming it violates his equal protection rights.
Kennedy previously petitioned the Supreme Court and lost on this issue regarding New York's refusal to allow him on the state ballot. Now, Kennedy hopes for a favorable decision in his new request for Wisconsin to remove him.
The legal filing not only cited equal protection but also compelled speech. "In Wisconsin, he wants everyone who will listen to him to vote for Trump," the application said.
"That is core political speech and it’s protected under the First Amendment. To ensure that message is conveyed clearly and without confusion, he asked that his name not appear on the Wisconsin ballot," the filing went on.
"He wanted to be clear: his endorsement was for Trump," it added. With the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump a statistical toss-up, the presence of a third-party candidate could make all the difference.
Unfortunately, even if Kennedy's request is granted, there are significant practical concerns. On Tuesday, over 97,000 people cast ballots in Wisconsin as in-person absentee voting began. Given that fact, it's unclear what the remedy from the Supreme Court would be, if any.
The legal battles are just a portion of what Kennedy has endured since he switched sides to support Trump. He anticipated as much when he made his announcement on August 23, Fox News reported.
"I've made the heart-wrenching decision to suspend my campaign and to support President Trump. This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes me, and my children and my friends," Kennedy said at an event in Phoenix, Arizona.
Kennedy's decision came after the Democratic Party "waged continual legal warfare against both President Trump and myself" as they "ran a sham primary." Unfortunately, his family has rejected him for it. USA Today reported that his sister Kerry Kennedy began stumping for Democrats, claiming there was "an endless number of Kennedys who are wanting to and willing to help out with this."
"Donald Trump is anathema to everything our family stands for. I distance myself and reject everything that Bobby is doing and saying because I think that it's a rejection of our family's values and everything that I've spent my life working for," Kerry Kennedy said.
The battle over the ballots continues as Election Day is less than two weeks away. Democrats are so desperate to do anything to help Harris win that they'll even leave a man on the ballot who has no interest in being there.
