Donald Trump Suffers Setback as Michigan Will Keep RFK Jr. on Ballot

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that Robert F. Kennedy’s name will remain on the state’s ballot in November despite the former independent candidate ending his presidential campaign and endorsing Donald Trump.
The court ruled on Monday that Kennedy “has not shown an entitlement to this extraordinary relief.”
Newsweek reached out to the Kennedy campaign via email Monday afternoon.
The ruling comes one week after a Michigan judge rejected Kennedy’s bid to remove his name from the ballot, and the candidate lodged a lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
Kennedy argued in the lawsuit that his notice of withdrawal was timely and that the electorate’s votes could be “diminished and rendered invalid” if he remained on the ballot.
In his ruling, Judge Christopher P. Yates said, “Elections are not just games, and the Secretary of State is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office.”
Kennedy withdrew from the presidential race on August 23, saying his campaign had faced censorship that had prevented his messages from getting through.
Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat, ran as an independent for much of his 2024 campaign.
However, Trump also adopted many of his core issues, and Kennedy said he would join the Republican in campaigning on these. One issue, however, was the independent candidate’s name already appearing on ballots across the U.S., including in ten battleground states.
“I will remove my name and urge voters not to vote for me,” Kennedy said in a press release, although it was unclear which states he was referring to.
He was due to appear on the ballot in at least 23 states but had been removed in New York by a judge after a dispute over his listed residence.
A Wisconsin court similarly refused to remove Kennedy’s name, but the move was approved in North Carolina.
Justices nominated by Democrats currently hold a 4-3 majority on the Michigan Supreme Court. The order on Monday was unsigned, and two Republican-nominated justices wrote a dissenting opinion.
“The Secretary’s duty to maintain the integrity of Michigan elections includes an
obligation to present actual candidates and associate them with the offices that they are
seeking,” the Republican justices said.
“By requiring Kennedy’s name to appear on the general election ballot, the Secretary of State is improperly and needlessly denying the electorate a choice between persons who are actual candidates willing to serve if elected.
“We can only hope that the Secretary’s misguided action—now sanctioned with the imprimatur of this Court—will not have national implications,” the justices said.
Update 9/9/24, 5:55 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.