Michigan’s top court rules RFK Jr.’s name will remain on ballot

Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name would remain on the presidential ballot, which served as a blow to his efforts to aid former President Trump in the key battleground state.

Once Kennedy ended his campaign as an independent presidential candidate and threw his support behind Trump, he mounted an effort to remove his name from the ballots in states where he thought he might draw votes away from Trump. He sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in Michigan to do so.

Benson had rejected his initial request to remove his name from the ballot, citing a state law that says candidates nominated by a minor party “shall not be permitted to withdraw.” Kenney was nominated by the Natural Law Party in the state.

An appeals court had reversed a lower-level court decision that agreed with Benson on Friday, resulting in a win for Kennedy. The Monday decision reverses the state appeals court ruling.

The high court argued Kennedy had not “pointed to any source of law” to substantiate his claim that he had the right to withdraw his name.

“Thus, the plaintiff has not shown an entitlement to this extraordinary relief, and we reverse,” the ruling read.

“This plainly has nothing to do with ballot or election integrity,” Kennedy’s attorney, Aaron Siri, said in a written statement, The Associated Press reported. “The aim is precisely the opposite — to have unwitting Michigan voters throw away their votes on a withdrawn candidate.”