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RFK Jr. asks appeals court to take him off Wisconsin ballot

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RFK Jr. asks appeals court to take him off Wisconsin ballot

Sep 12, 2024 | 4:17 pm ET
By Henry Redman
RFK Jr. asks appeals court to take him off Wisconsin ballot
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 23: Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on August 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump.(Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has asked Wisconsin’s District 2 Court of Appeals to remove his name from the state’s presidential ballot, saying he’s “running against the clock.” 

The request comes after a Dane County Circuit Court judge, working in a different appellate district, rejected Kennedy’s request to issue an injunction last week before the Wisconsin Elections Commission had a chance to respond. The judge, Stephen Ehlke, instead set a scheduling conference that happened on Wednesday. 

Kennedy’s legal maneuvers come after he ended his presidential campaign last month and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Polls show Kennedy’s presence on the ballot largely pulls support from Trump. 

Kennedy had asked the WEC to remove his name from the ballot, a request the body denied earlier this month. His campaign had filed nomination papers with the state on Aug. 6 and state law does not include a mechanism to take back that filing. 

His attorneys argued to the more conservative friendly 2nd District that the briefing schedule in the Dane County case would take too long and by the time a decision is reached, ballots will already be printed and sent out. 

County clerks across the state have already begun printing ballots, with the first absentee ballots required to be put in the mail Sept. 19. In 2020, the state Supreme Court denied an attempt by the Green Party to have its candidates put on the ballot because the lawsuit was filed after ballots had been printed. 

Kennedy’s attorneys argued the appeals court should take up the case so the WEC can’t run out the clock. 

“Its victory will not be one of principle and precedent but procrastination,” Kennedy’s attorneys argued.