Supreme Court Gives Letitia James a Deadline in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has given New York Attorney General Letitia James until Wednesday to respond to an emergency request from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is seeking to have his name restored to New York’s presidential ballot.
In an emergency petition filed Monday, Kennedy argued that New York judges wrongly disqualified him due to a residency dispute. Kennedy argued that his supporters in the state “have a constitutional right to have Kennedy placed on the ballot — and to vote for him, whether he is campaigning for their vote or not.”
The case was assigned to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who instructed James and her team to respond in writing by Wednesday afternoon.
Kennedy Jr.’s name was removed from New York’s ballot on September 7 after a judge ruled against him in a dispute over his listed residence. Kennedy’s main argument is that his temporary residence in Katonah, New York, meets the state’s requirements.
His attorneys claim that voters weren’t misled by his petition, which listed an address where he stayed briefly.
“The address on Kennedy’s petition is irrelevant to voters and to New York,” his legal team stated in court. The campaign, along with the super PAC American Values 2024, argued that keeping him off the ballot would deny New York voters the chance to support their candidate.
After dropping out of the race, Kennedy endorsed Trump and has tried to get his name taken off the ballot in key swing states. Before withdrawing from the race, Kennedy’s name was set to appear on the ballot in at least 23 states. He said he would remove his name from the ballot in 10 states, including the seven battleground states, where he thought his candidacy would harm Trump’s chances of winning the election.
The presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballot could be a key factor in several battleground states, where four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by between 5,700 votes and about 23,000 votes.
Although Kennedy succeeded in removing his name from ballots in states like Arizona and North Carolina, he remains on the ballot in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada. Now, his case in New York is the first to reach the Supreme Court.
While Trump is very unlikely to win New York, he’s poised to get more votes in New York than any Republican in nearly 40 years, polling shows. Kennedy remaining on the ballot could hurt him in the Empire State. A Siena College poll from early August showed Trump with 39 percent support in a two-way race with Harris. Kennedy got 7 percent support and when he and other third party candidates were given as an option, Trump’s support dropped to 37 percent.
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