The Nevada Green Party on Friday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency intervention so its candidates can appear on the state’s general election ballot in November.
Nevada’s top court in a 5-2 ruling last week excluded the party’s candidates because it used the wrong form when collecting signatures to gain ballot access.
The ruling handed a win to the Nevada State Democratic Party, which challenged the signatures that would’ve enabled Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to go before voters.
By filing an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court, the Green Party thrusts the justices into another election-related dispute in a key swing state that could help decide the presidential contest.
“The lower court’s action preventing Applicant ballot access was extraordinary, denying Applicant both due process and equal protection under the federal Constitution,” the Green Party wrote in its application.
“Given the timing of the lower court’s actions, emergency relief in this Court is the only relief available that prevents an ongoing and irreparable harm to Applicant’s exercise of one of Americans’ most sacred rights,” it continued.
Neither former President Trump’s campaign nor the state Republican Party is involved in the lawsuit.
The Green Party is being represented by Jay Sekulow, who was an attorney for Trump at his first of two impeachment trials and is lead counsel at American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal organization, which has cast Democrats’ lawsuit as a way to clear the way for Vice President Harris.
The Hill has reached out to the Nevada State Democratic Party for comment. The court set a deadline for Tuesday for the Nevada State Democratic Party and Nevada’s secretary of state’s office to respond.
The Green Party says it used the wrong form in collecting signatures based on guidance from officials in the Nevada secretary of state’s office. The state’s top court found that wasn’t a sufficient excuse.
“The Secretary of State’s office was involved in this case by necessity, and took no position on the legal sufficiency of the petition under Nevada law,” the office said in a statement, adding that it is working with counties to carry out last week’s ruling.
The challenge to the Green Party’s ballot access in Nevada comes amid a series of legal battles in swing states over whether to grant Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to remove his name from ballots now that he has suspended his campaign. None of those challenges have reached the Supreme Court.