Supreme Court Refuses to Remove RFK Jr. from Wisconsin and Michigan Ballots

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was running for President, but now he isn't and he does not want to be on the ballot in states where that might hurt Trump.

In two unsigned orders, the Supreme Court has denied Robert F. Kennedy Jr's applications for injunctions that would have removed his name from the ballots in Wisconsin and Michigan. RFK Jr had been running for President as an independent, and qualified to be on many ballots around the country. He subsequently dropped out of the race, however, and endorsed Donald Trump. Now he would like to be removed from the ballot in swing states where he fears he would draw votes away from Trump, but his efforts to get off of the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan were unsuccessful.

No justice dissented from the Wisconsin order. Justice Gorsuch, however, dissented from the Michigan order. His dissent reads:

Respectfully, I dissent for substantially the reasons given by Judges Thapar, Readler, and McKeague. See Kennedy v. Benson, case No. 24-1799, (CA6, Oct. 16, 2024), pp. 13—19 (Thapar, J., dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc); id., at 20—32 (Readler, J., dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc); id., at 35—37 (McKeague, J., statement respecting denial of rehearing and denial of rehearing en banc).

His references are to the McKeague dissent in this unpublished panel opinion and the Thapar and Readler dissents from the denial of rehearing en banc.

On Sunday, Trump reportedly said he would let RFK Jr. "go wild" on food and public health issues were he to be re-elected. From one report:

"I'm going to let him go wild on health. I'm going to let him go wild on the food. I'm going to let him go wild on the medicines," Trump told supporters at Madison Square Garden.

"The only thing I don't think I'm going to let him even get near is the liquid gold that we have under our feet," he added, referring to oil.

Given some of RFK Jr's borderline-insane views on a range of public health issues, that would be quite the choice. Back in 2008, there were reports that RFK Jr could be considered as EPA Administrator in the Obama Administration, but was "too controversial."