(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/18/2024) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name will remain on Michigan’s Nov. 5 presidential ballot after a federal judge rejected his effort to remove it.

U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood, who heard oral arguments late Monday, said today that both the state’s voters and the Natural Law Party will be harmed if Kennedy’s request is granted.

“To allow (Kennedy) to unilaterally withdraw from the ballot would leave supporters of the Natural Law Party without a candidate on the ballot,” Hood’s 18-page order reads. “Allowing plaintiff to leave his nominating party without a candidate will impede the party’s ability to qualify for ballot access in future elections run afoul to the notion of good faith in securing the nomination of minor parties.”

Hood sided with the state’s arguments that Kennedy’s delay in filing his lawsuit was “unreasonable and could work to render inefficient the election process” by causing the Secretary of State’s office to miss deadlines.

However, the Judge, a President Bill Clinton appointee, agreed that the SOS “may have exceeded the bounds of her office” when she certified the candidates’ names on Sept. 6, leaving Kennedy’s name off, but three days later re-certified the names, including Kennedy’s.

Kennedy’s attorney, Brandon Debus, declined to comment on the ruling.

Debus asked the court Tuesday to prohibit Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson from including his client’s name on the ballot, arguing keeping Kennedy’s name on the ballot disenfranchises his supporters and “improperly characterizes” Kennedy as a candidate.

“Why would we trick voters?” Debus argued.

Assistant Attorney General Erik Grill argued it was too late to change the ballots as 67 of Michigan’s 83 counties have completed the ballot printing process. Reprinting, he argued, would delay the Thursday deadline to have ballots in county clerks’ hands.

Debus argued Kennedy withdrew from the race in time to get his name off the ballot, and he compared it to Democratic President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the presidential race.

But, Grill countered that Biden withdrew before accepting his party’s nomination, while Kennedy had already accepted the Natural Law Party’s nomination.

Kennedy’s legal team filed the federal complaint on Sept. 10 after his unsuccessful fight in the state courts, which ended the day before when the Michigan Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s holding that Kennedy’s name should be removed.

Kennedy, who sought and received the Natural Law Party’s presidential nomination, decided Aug. 23 to withdraw and endorse former president Donald J. TRUMP. He twice tried to remove his name, but the Bureau of Elections twice rejected the request, leading to his initial complaint in the Court of Claims.

A Court of Claims judge upheld the BOE’s decision, but a three-judge appeals panel reversed that ruling two days later.