Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign was dealt a blow on Monday when a judge ruled that his petition to appear on New York’s ballot was invalid, saying Mr. Kennedy had used a “sham” address to maintain his New York residency.
The ruling, if it stands, would keep Mr. Kennedy off the ballot in a state where he lived for much of his adult life and could endanger his efforts to be placed on the ballot in dozens of other states. He has three days to appeal the decision, handed down by a judge in Albany, N.Y.
A group of New York residents — backed by Clear Choice, a Democrat-aligned political action committee — had challenged Mr. Kennedy’s New York residency, arguing that his campaign had used a false address on the tens of thousands of nominating petitions it circulated and submitted to place him on the ballot.
His lawyer, William F. Savino, said in an email that Mr. Kennedy had “always planned to appeal any adverse ruling.” Later Monday, the campaign said it would file a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan. “The 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution governs the residency of presidential and vice-presidential candidates, not state law,” said the campaign’s senior counsel, Paul Rossi. “If state court judges are going to ignore the Constitution, the federal courts must step in to protect voters’ rights.”
,
For his part, Mr. Kennedy said: “The Democrats are showing contempt for democracy. They aren’t confident they can win at the ballot box, so they are trying to stop voters from having a choice. We will appeal, and we will win.”
Clear Choice said the ruling “makes clear that Mr. Kennedy lied about his residency and provided a false address on his filing papers and candidate petitions in New York, intentionally misleading election officials and betraying voters’ trust.”
