Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now asking the conservative 2nd District Court of Appeals to remove him from Wisconsin’s presidential ballot, acknowledging that he is “running against the clock.”
Kennedy filed an appeal yesterday with the Waukesha-based court after a Dane County judge on Friday rejected his request for an injunction before first allowing the Elections Commission to weigh in. Instead, the judge set a scheduling conference for tomorrow.
But Kennedy argued to the 2nd District that he can’t wait for Judge Stephen Ehlke to rule. His attorneys wrote the coming briefing schedule would likely moot Kennedy’s claims because it would result in a decision after ballots are already printed and sent out.
The state Supreme Court four years ago denied a lawsuit by the Green Party seeking to get its presidential candidate on the ballot, in part, because it was filed after ballots were already in the process of being printed.
County clerks face a Sept. 18 deadline to have ballots printed and in the hands of local election officials.
Kennedy’s filing argues once ballots are approved and sent out, the commission could point to that 2020 ruling to assert the lawsuit is too late.
“Its victory will not be one of principle and precedent but procrastination,” Kennedy’s attorneys argued.
Kennedy filed nomination papers ahead of the Aug. 6 deadline for independent candidates to turn them in. But after dropping out of the race more than two weeks later — and endorsing Donald Trump — he requested to be left off the Wisconsin ballot. State law doesn’t include a mechanism for candidates to take back nomination papers, and the Elections Commission ultimately voted 5-1 to put him on the ballot.
Kennedy’s brief with the 2nd District raises the same issues he already has in the suit he filed last week in Dane County Circuit Court. That includes that the state has different standards for when major party candidates can withdraw compared to independents and that placing him on the ballot violates Kennedy’s First Amendment rights.
