Wisconsin Supreme Court: Green Party's Stein can remain on presidential ballot

(The Center Square) – Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein will remain on Wisconsin's presidential ballot, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to Stein's candidacy filed by a state Democratic National Committee employee.

“We determine that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief he seeks,” the court ruled . "And it is further ordered that all other pending motions are denied as moot."

David Strange, deputy operations director for Wisconsin’s DNC, submitted the challenge to Stein's candidacy last week, arguing that because the Green Party did not nominate candidates for the state Senate or Assembly, the party has no qualified presidential electors.

Critics pushed back on the complaint, arguing that Democrats feared Stein would take more votes away from Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and give GOP nominee Donald Trump an advantage.

“This is a big win against the anti-Democratic Party’s war on democracy and voter choice,” Stein said in a statement published by Just the News. “The Democrats constantly preach about ‘saving democracy’, when in reality they’ve been doing everything they can to crush democracy by trying to remove the Green Party and others from the ballot. Today justice prevailed, we beat back the DNC’s attack, and voters in Wisconsin will still have an anti-genocide, pro-worker, climate action choice in this election.”

Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said the ruling was a win for democracy.

“Granting this petition would have disenfranchised the votes of tens of thousands of Wisconsinites, and ultimately undermined ballot access by future third-party candidates," Esenberg said. "This ruling from the Court is a win for Wisconsin elections and the voters who place their faith and trust in the democratic process.”

• Therese Boudreaux contributed to this report