(WXYZ) — The Michigan Supreme Court in a 5 to 2 ruling has ordered that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on the ballot in Michigan's General Election in November.
The court found that under Michigan law, there is no duty for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to remove Kennedy from the ballot.
The court's majority wrote, "Assuming, without deciding, that the Court of Appeals was correct in its interpretation of MCL 168.686a(4), plaintiff has neither pointed to any source of law that prescribes and defines a duty to withdraw a candidate’s name from the ballot nor demonstrated his clear legal right to performance of this specific duty, let alone identified a source of law written with “ ‘such precision and certainty as to leave nothing to the exercise of discretion or judgment.’ ” Thus, the plaintiff has not shown an entitlement to this extraordinary relief, and we reverse."
The Supreme Court ruling came with a dissent from Justices David Viviano and Brian Zahra, who wrote, "The Secretary’s duty to maintain the integrity of Michigan elections includes an obligation to present actual candidates and associate them with the offices that they are seeking. By requiring Kennedy’s name to appear on the general election ballot, the Secretary of State is improperly and needlessly denying the electorate a choice between persons who are actual candidates willing to serve if elected. We can only hope that the Secretary’s misguided action—now sanctioned with the imprimatur of this Court—will not have national implications."
The Michigan Supreme Court's ruling comes after the state's Court of Appeals reversed a Court of Claims ruling that ordered Kennedy to remain on the ballot. Friday's Court of Appeals ruling said that while Kennedy’s request was made close to the deadline to give notice to local election officials, it wasn’t so unreasonable as to deny relief to him.
Kennedy sued Benson on Aug. 30 to get off the ballot.
In a four-page ruling, the Court of Claims found that Kennedy could not be removed from the ballot as the nominee for President of the Natural Law Party because under Michigan Law candidates from minor parties cannot withdraw after accepting their party nomination.
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Kennedy was chosen by the Natural Law Party at their conventional signed the official paperwork to be placed on the ballot. In it's ruling, the court said that by withdrawing his name from the ballot, Kennedy would be preventing them from fielding a candidate in Michigan in the General Election.
The Court of Claims also indicated in it's ruling that had Kennedy sought to get on the ballot through a petition drive, instead of accepting the nomination of a party, he would have been allowed to withdrawn.
You can click here to read the entire statue. The following quoted portion is the section quoted above:
(4) The state convention shall be held at the time and place indicated in the call. The convention shall consist of delegates selected by the county caucuses. The convention may fill vacancies in a delegation from qualified electors of that county present at the convention. The convention may nominate candidates for all state offices. District candidates may be nominated at district caucuses held in conjunction with the state convention attended by qualified delegates of the district. If delegates of a district are not present, a district caucus shall not be held for that district and candidates shall not be nominated for that district. Not more than 1 business day after the conclusion of the convention, the names and mailing addresses of the candidates nominated for state or district offices shall be certified by the chairperson and secretary of the state convention to the secretary of state. The certification shall be accompanied by an affidavit of identity for each candidate named in the certificate as provided in section 558 and a separate written certificate of acceptance of nomination signed by each candidate named on the certificate. The form of the certificate of acceptance shall be prescribed by the secretary of state. The names of candidates so certified with accompanying affidavit of identity and certificate of acceptance shall be printed on the ballot for the forthcoming election. Candidates so nominated and certified shall not be permitted to withdraw.
Kennedy withdrew from the presidential race and endorsed former President Donald Trump in late August.
You can read the entire Michigan Supreme Court opinion and dissent below:
167545 2024-09-09 or by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
