RFK Jr. loses final bid for NY ballot as Supreme Court denies request

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lost a last-ditch attempt on Friday to get his name on New York’s ballot as a presidential candidate when the Supreme Court turned him down.
Kennedy, who kept up that fight despite ending his independent run and backing Donald Trump, had waged separate battles in state and federal courts in defense of his petition, which was rejected on the grounds that it inaccurately claimed he lived in New York. Kennedy moved to California in 2014 but listed a friend’s house in Westchester County as his home on his candidate petitions in New York and other states.
His lawyers made an emergency request last week to the Supreme Court for an injunction to add Kennedy’s name to New York’s ballots. That request came at a very late stage: counties already had printed mail-in ballots without his name and began sending them to voters one day before his plea was filed.
On Friday, the Supreme Court simply denied Kennedy’s request without a written opinion. That was the sixth legal defeat for his New York petition after losing at three levels in New York state courts and two lower federal courts.
Kennedy’s supporters collected far more signatures than he needed to qualify for New York’s ballot. But its fatal flaw was its stating as his residence a house in the northern Westchester hamlet of Katonah, which turned out to belong to two longtime friends. Kennedy, who lived in Westchester for three decades before moving to California, claimed to rent a spare bedroom from the couple, but acknowledged in court he had spent only one night there.
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Dubious address:Does RFK Jr. truly live in Westchester? Ruling will decide if he runs for president in NY
Kennedy’s lawyers argued the address listed on his petition was unimportant because he had no intent to deceive the voters who signed it. But state Supreme Court Justice Christina Ryba declared it a falsehood that invalidated the entire petition.
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected].