Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s longshot bid for the presidency seemed to have ended on Friday when he suspended his independent campaign and declared his support for Donald Trump.
And yet his lawyers were back in court in Albany on Wednesday, trying to revive his quest to appear on New York ballots on Nov. 5. Despite pulling the plug on his campaign, Kennedy is still fighting a ruling this month that invalidated his petition to run in New York because it inaccurately listed a friend's house in Westchester County as his own home address.
Nothing was said in court about the campaign's suspension as lawyers made their cases to a five-judge appeals court panel. Kennedy attorney Jim Walden waded through a thicket of technical points before landing on a central defense: that Kennedy's address claim had no bearing on his candidacy.
"Let's step back and have some context," Walden told the judges. "This is a national election. The presidency is at stake. There is a new party called 'We the People.' It was established by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could have put his residence as the moon, and nobody would be confused with who Robert F. Kennedy is. Robert F. Kennedy is a member of one the most distinguished political families in United States history."
John Quinn, a lawyer for the Democratic group that challenged Kennedy's New York petition, countered with a simple argument: that Kennedy was merely required to state his address and he failed to respond truthfully.
"This is a process, this is just about filling out a form," Quinn said. "Mr. Kennedy could live anywhere; he just wasn't allowed to lie about where he lives. And it's really important to underscore this: this was a four-day trial, and this was not an inadvertent mistake case. Mr. Kennedy himself admitted on the stand: I moved to California in 2014, I made my home there, I still make my home there, I have no intention of abandoning my home there."
Court ruling: RFK Jr. barred from NY ballot after judge finds he wrongly claimed to live in Westchester
The court adjourned after 35 minutes of arguments and questioning. No decision has been rendered.
Kennedy, who has a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, had lived in Westchester for three decades while working as an environmental lawyer and teaching at Pace Law School. He moved to California after marrying the actress Cheryl Hines, but maintained several New York ties that he cited in defense of his residency claim, including a New York driver's license and voter registration.
Kennedy claimed to rent a bedroom at the friend's house in Katonah that he listed as his home on his presidential candidate petitions in New York and 17 other states. So far two other states — Illinois and Georgia — have rejected his petition for the same reason a New York judge voided it this month: a bogus address.
When he suspended his campaign, Kennedy said he planned to withdraw his petitions in about 10 states where the presidential race may be close and he could hurt Trump by keeping his name on the ballot. His campaign claimed to have collected enough signatures to run in 46 states, of which 22 had so far approved his petitions.
But it may be too late for him to leave the ballot in certain battleground states. NPR reported this week that deadlines had passed in at least three of seven key swing states — Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin — for Kennedy to remove his name from the ballot.
He's unlikely to swing the race in heavily Democratic New York if he wins his appeal and gets his name on the ballot. Kamala Harris led Donald Trump by 14 points in the Empire State in a Siena College poll taken shortly after she replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket .
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: RFK Jr. still fighting to get on NY ballot after ending White House bid and backing Trump
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