RFK Jr is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to remove his name from the Michigan ballot

By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to remove his name from the ballot in Michigan, once again putting pressure on the nation’s highest court to intervene in his fight to stay on the ballot in some states as he continues the elections dropped. others off.

Lawyers for the former independent presidential candidate filed an emergency request for an order requiring Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to remove him from the ballot for the upcoming Nov. 5 presidential election. Kennedy suspended his campaign in August and endorsed Donald Trump.

It is Kennedy’s third trip to the Supreme Court to oppose the voting decisions of state officials. On Wednesday, he similarly asked the court to remove his name from the Wisconsin ballot. In September, the Supreme Court rejected his bid to get back on the ballot in New York.

When Kennedy suspended his campaign, he vowed to withdraw in the most contested states but remain on the ballot elsewhere. Kennedy has since called on his supporters around the world to support Trump and has withdrawn from the vote in a number of Republican states.

Benson rejected Kennedy’s requests to withdraw, prompting him to file a lawsuit in state court. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled against him in September.

He then filed a lawsuit in federal court, but the Cincinnati, Ohio-based 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals also sided with Benson on September 27. Now that the ballots have been printed, Kennedy “doesn’t explain how we can ring the bell at this point without causing major damage.” for the right to vote and the public’s interest in fair and efficient election administration,” the 6th Circuit said in its opinion.

In Friday’s filing, Kennedy’s lawyers said Benson’s action to keep him on the ballot violates his right to free speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and “opens the floodgates for secretaries of state in the United States to to have unfettered powers to break the law.”

In his effort to withdraw from the Wisconsin ballot, Kennedy asked the justices for an injunction “directing the Wisconsin Elections Commission to cover his name with stickers.”

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)