Supreme Court rejects appeal to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the vote in Wisconsin, Michigan

WASHINGTON (AP) — The The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an emergency call to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the presidential election in two battlefield states.

Kennedy wanted to get rid of the ballot in Wisconsin and Michigan after drop his independent bid and supports the Republican Donald Trump in the tight competition. He argued that holding him violated his First Amendment rights by falsely implying that he still wanted to be elected president.

Michigan and Wisconsin said it would be impossible to remove his name now, with early voting underway days before the election. More than 1.5 million people in Michigan have already returned absentee ballots, and another 264,000 have voted early, state attorneys wrote in court documents. In Wisconsin, over 858,000 people have returned absentee ballots.

The judges did not explain their reasoning in a ruling rejecting the emergency appeal, as is typical. One justice, Neil Gorsuch, publicly dissented in the Michigan case.

The presence of independent and third-party candidates on the ballot in swing states could be a key factor in the close presidential race. The Supreme Court previously rejected Kennedy’s separate effort to remain on the ballot in New York, a state where his presence is unlikely to make a difference in the race between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.

Kennedy has been working to get off the ballot in the seven key swing states since endorsing Trump. Wisconsin and Michigan are the final two where his name is expected to appear.

In Michigan, he won an appeals court victory, but the courts ultimately found that he could not withdraw as a candidate for the Natural Law Party, which had wanted him to stay on.

In his dissent, Gorsuch pointed to lower court judges who wrote that the timing of Kennedy’s original request to be removed was not so unreasonable that it should be denied.

In Wisconsin, the courts rejected Kennedy’s argument that major parties are unfairly given more time to switch nominees. Judges who found candidates missing deadlines for changing nomination papers must stay on the ballot unless they die, and a plan to cover Kennedy’s name with stickers was unworkable.