Wisconsin Supreme Court to rule on whether RFK Jr. will stay on ballot

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has agreed to rule on whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will stay on the ballot after the independent candidate-turned-Trump backed filed a Sept. 3 lawsuit seeking to have his name removed.

Kennedy has been petitioning states across the country to strike his name from the list of 2024 presidential candidates after suspending his campaign and endorsing the Republican ticket in August.

He successfully had his name withdrawn in North Carolina, while Michigan decided against revoking Kennedy’s ballot access. Republicans fear Kennedy could pull votes away from Trump in states where he remains on the ballot.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has promised to make a decision as “expeditiously as possible” and will likely not hear arguments. A county court ruled that candidates must remain on the ballot unless they die.

Lawyers for the Wisconsin Elections Commission said clerks have already started sending absentee ballots with Kennedy’s name, according to the Associated Press.

Kennedy lost a significant amount of his already marginal voting share when Vice President Harris replaced President Biden as the Democratic nominee. However, he was still seen as a potential spoiler given how close the race between Trump and Harris is.

When he announced that he was suspending his campaign and joining forces with Trump, Kennedy cited free speech and the war in Ukraine as key reasons for his decision.

“One of the two candidates has adopted these issues as his own to the point where he has asked to enlist me in his administration. I’m speaking, of course, of Donald Trump,” Kennedy told his supporters.