Even though he has suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court to have his name restored to the ballot in New York.
It's a bit of a twist for Kennedy because since suspending his campaign, he has sought to remove his name from the ballot in several battleground states.
Kennedy's name was excluded by lower courts in New York that found he falsely claimed residency in the state because his Katonah, New York, address was not his fixed and permanent residency, The Hill reported.
"The address on Kennedy's petition was and is entirely immaterial – both to voters and to New York," his attorneys wrote in their appeal to the high court.
Kennedy said in court filings he rented a room in the home from a childhood friend and stayed overnight on one occasion, The Hill reported. His attorneys noted lower courts "did not find that anyone was misled," insisting that taking him off the ballot was irrevocably depriving Kennedy's supporters in New York of their right to vote for him.
Kennedy's campaign, America Values 2024, a pro-Kennedy super PAC, and Jeffrey Rose, who was among more than 100,000 New Yorkers who signed a petition to place Kennedy's name on the ballot, were listed as those who brought the emergency request to the high court.
The emergency request went to Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who oversees emergency appeals from New York, The Hill reported. Sotomayor requested that Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James and others involved in the case respond in writing by Wednesday afternoon.
This is the not the first appeal by a presidential candidate taken to the Supreme Court this year. Last week, the court denied an emergency request by the Green Party to restore its presidential candidate, Jill Stein, to Nevada's ballot.