LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain in the state’s November presidential primary, ending Kennedy’s efforts to withdraw his name in support of former President Donald Trump.
Kennedy suspended his third-party presidential campaign and endorsed Trump in August. He sued Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, on Aug. 30 in an effort to remove his name from the ballot so as not to take away votes from Trump, who won Michigan by about 10,000 votes in 2016.
Monday’s decision overturns a ruling by the Intermediate Court of Appeal that was made on Friday. That ensures Kennedy’s name will appear on voters’ ballots in the prized battleground state despite his withdrawal from the race.
The court said in a brief order that Kennedy “has not demonstrated entitlement to this extraordinary relief, and we reverse.”
“This obviously has nothing to do with ballots or election integrity,” Kennedy’s attorney, Aaron Siri, said in a written statement. “The purpose is just the opposite – to get unwitting Michigan voters to throw away their votes on a candidate who is in favor.”
Angela Benander, a spokeswoman for Benson’s office, said the department is grateful for the high court’s “quick response.”
“Expeditors can now move forward with printing ballots to ensure that absentee ballots will be delivered to voters by the federal deadlines,” Benander said in a written statement.
Kennedy is trying to withdraw his name from states where presidential elections will end in November. He had scored a legitimate victory in North Carolina and suffered a setback in Wisconsin Friday.
Judges nominated by Democrats currently hold a 4-3 majority on the Michigan Supreme Court. The order was unsigned, and two Republican-nominated justices wrote a dissenting opinion.
“We can only hope that the Secretary’s misguided actions — now sanctioned with this Court’s imprimatur — will not have national consequences,” the dissenting justices wrote.
Kennedy was nominated for president by the Natural Law Party of Michigan. Benson had previously cited a state law that says candidates who are nominated and accept a minor party’s nomination “may not withdraw.”