Robert F. Kennedy Jr., shown here announcing in Phoenix, Arizona, August 23 that he was suspending his race for president and endorsing Republican Donald Trump, is suing the Wisconsin Elections Commission to have his name taken off the presidential ballot in Wisconsin. (Rebecca Noble | Getty Images)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sued the Wisconsin Elections Commission in the hopes of forcing his name off of presidential ballots in the state in November.
The WEC voted last week to keep Kennedy on the ballot after he had filed the paperwork to be included but dropped out of the race and endorsed former President Donald Trump. The commission decided that state law requires a candidate to be on the ballot if they qualify unless they have died.
The lawsuit comes after municipal clerks across the state have already begun printing ballots with his name on them because absentee ballots begin to be sent to voters in two weeks.
Kennedy’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday, argues that the WEC forcing him to remain on the ballot violates his constitutional rights to free speech and association.
“Despite seeking withdrawal 10 days ago, and despite having his lawyers ensure there was no mistake about it, the Wisconsin Election Commission has kept him on the ballot,” a brief filed by Kennedy’s attorneys states. “In First Amendment parlance: it has compelled him to not just speak, but to associate with a cause he doesn’t want to be part of. In doing so, Kennedy’s rights have been violated.”
The brief also raises legal questions about Wisconsin’s state laws, which give independent presidential candidates different deadlines than candidates from the two major parties. State statute requires the Democratic and Republican parties to certify their candidates by the first Tuesday in September. Independent candidates must file paperwork by the first Tuesday in August.
“Politics is an ugly business,” the brief states. “While political maneuvering and gamesmanship will always be present and to a certain extent tolerated, the Supreme Court has been clear that it goes too far when there is a different playbook for the major parties than for the independent or third-party candidates. Third parties can’t be treated differently and they can’t be discriminated against. Yet that’s what happened here.”
Kennedy is represented in the lawsuit by a firm that touts its expertise in “vaccine injury” cases. The brief also claims that Kennedy, like President Joe Biden, served “for decades in Congress.” Kennedy’s uncle, Ted, was in the Senate for nearly 50 years, but he has never been elected to office.
The lawsuit seeking to force Kennedy off the ballot is another episode in the wrangling by the two major parties over the independent candidates on the ballot this fall.
Polling shows Kennedy largely pulls support from Trump. An effort by the Democratic party to force Green Party candidate Jill Stein off the ballot recently failed. Polls show that Stein and another left-wing candidate, Cornel West, largely draw support from the Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.