The Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lost another round Friday in his effort to get off the Wisconsin presidential ballot in November.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a seven-page opinion, ruled that Kennedy “failed to demonstrate” that a Dane County judge had erred when denying Kennedy’s petition for a court to remove him from the ballot.
Kennedy, running under a third-party banner, filed nomination papers in early August to be included among presidential candidates on the Wisconsin ballot.
Kennedy subsequently dropped out of the race, endorsing former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
Shortly before the Wisconsin Elections Commission met Aug. 27 to certify candidates, Kennedy wrote the commission seeking to withdraw as a candidate.
The commission voted 5-1 to deny his request. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs cited a state law that candidates who file nomination papers and qualify to run cannot withdraw and must remain on the ballot, unless they die.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Rebecca Noble | Getty Images)
Kennedy sued in Dane County Circuit Court, asking the judge to review the commission’s decision but also seeking a temporary injunction that would order the commission to remove his name from the ballot. Judge Stephen Ehlke denied Kennedy’s requests, ruling that state law does not allow a candidate to withdraw from the presidential race after filing nomination papers.
After Kennedy’s lawyer appealed the state Supreme Court approved the elections commission’s request to bypass the appeals court.
In denying the temporary injunction, Ehlke ruled that it had failed to meet three of four required conditions: Kennedy wouldn’t suffer “irreparable harm,” an injunction would not “preserve the status quo” and Kennedy was unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claim.
According to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, appellate briefs Kennedy’s lawyers filed in the case were inadequate for the court to review his claims of harm or of his potential for success.
“Consequently, because there is no basis in this appeal on which we could determine that the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion, we must affirm the circuit court’s order denying Kennedy’s motion for a temporary injunction,” the opinion states.
The opinion was unsigned, although it was accompanied by a concurrence signed by Justice Rebecca Bradley and joined by Chief Justice Annette Ziegler. Bradley said she did not disagree that the briefs from Kennedy’s lawyers were inadequate, but she also took a shot at the Court majority.
The timelines under which the elections commission and the high court operate “hamstring candidates in Kennedy’s situation,” Bradley wrote.
She added that while Kennedy could have gained more time by going to the Supreme Court initially with an original action petition “this court’s decisions to grant or deny original action petitions lack predictable standards, leaving parties to guess the right avenue” for challenging the elections commission.
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