A judge on Monday said independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could not appear on the New York State ballot because he had falsely attested that he lived in New York.
If the ruling stands, Kennedy could be removed from the New York ballot, and may also see the case used in suits to remove him from other state ballots.
Scripps News spoke with Kennedy on Tuesday about the ruling and about what his federal election statements list as his home address.
"The federal statement was a mailing address in California," Kennedy said. "The domicile legally has to be the place you vote. So I had to take an oath in New Hampshire in front of a notary public that I voted in New York and that therefore it's my domicile. So I legally had to list New York. I can't list different states on different state ballots. I had to choose one domicile. We went through all the facts."
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Kennedy has called the ruling a partisan decision, and promises to appeal.
"States are not allowed to add a burden to the three requirements the 12th Amendment imposes for running for president," he told Scripps News. "This is a national election. This is what the courts have said. They don't want a patchwork of, you know, a national candidate would not be able to run in one state or another because of some special rule in that state. They've said you can't do that. The states have no right to preempt the 12th Amendment."
"The DNC is stretching for any reason to keep me off the ballot, and they will lose this case on appeal because my domicile is New York," Kennedy said.
In a statement, the DNC disagreed with Kennedy's assertions and called him "a fraud through and through" who is running a "spoiler candidacy."
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