Supreme Court rejects RFK Jr.'s emergency petition to get on New York ballot

WASHINGTON ? The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid for a spot on New York's presidential ballot.

Kennedy suspended his independent campaign in August and endorsed Donald Trump, but he still wants votes in non-competitive states even as he's fought to get off the ballot in battlegrounds where he might siphon support from the former president.

In an emergency petition filed this week, Kennedy told the Supreme Court that state judges in New York were wrong to disqualify him over a dispute about his residency.

New York Attorney General Letitia James responded that Kennedy's request is "extraordinary and disruptive."

Tens of thousands of ballots already in voters' hands would have to be invalidated, James told the court, even though "Kennedy is no longer seeking the office for which he insists on the right to appear on the ballot and is imploring his supporters to vote for someone else."

RFK Jr.'s 'sham' New York address

Kennedy's lawyers said he was only asking to put his name on ballots yet to be printed.

As is common for emergency orders, the court did not give an explanation for rejecting Kennedy's petition. There were no noted dissents.

Days before Kennedy suspended his campaign, New York Judge Christina Ryba ruled he had falsely claimed on his nominating petition that his "place of residence" is an address in Katonah, N.Y., outside of New York City, where he rents a spare bedroom ? rather than his home in California, which he purchased in 2021 after marrying "Curb Your Enthusiasm" actress Cheryl Hines in 2014.

In a 34-page decision following a short trial, Ryba wrote that "based on clear and convincing credible evidence," the New York address listed on the petition "was not Kennedy's bona fide and legitimate residence, but merely a 'sham' address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration and furthering his own political aspirations in this State.”

Kennedy’s lawyers told the Supreme Court that Ryba “did not find that anyone was misled by the address, nor identify any state interests compromised by its use.”

And the fact that he's suspended his campaign should not matter, his lawyers argued, because "a suspended campaign is not a terminated campaign."

"Whether suspending a campaign or only appearing on ballots for some states is a prudent political strategy is irrelevant to the legal issues in this case," they wrote. "The prudence of such a strategy will be debated by an array of political pundits, a flock of history and political science professors, and a chattering of voices on social media."

When Kennedy suspended his campaign, he said his name would remain on the ballot and he encouraged his supporters to vote for him in most states.

But he said he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states “where my presence would be a spoiler.”

Kennedy said he does not want to risk handing the election to Democrats, “with whom I disagree on the most existential issues: censorship, war and chronic disease.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court rejects RFK Jr.'s bid for a spot on N.Y. ballot