U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on Dec. 16, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump pledged Monday to keep the polio vaccine available throughout his presidency, but didn’t extend that protection to other vaccines, saying he expects his administration will look closely at safety — something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already does before granting approval.

Trump’s comments came during an hour-long press conference where he hinted at trying to privatize the Postal Service and said he planned to file a lawsuit against a presidential preference poll published by The Des Moines Register that found him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in the last days before the election.

Trump, who will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, also said he would solve the war between Ukraine and Russia and establish the Middle East as a “good place,” though he declined to provide details.

“Starting on day one, we’ll implement a rapid series of bold reforms to restore our nation to full prosperity,” Trump said in his first formal back-and-forth with reporters since the Nov. 5 election. “We’re going to go full prosperity and to build the greatest economy the world has ever seen, just as we had just a short time ago.”

Trump said he expects Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine denier he has said he will nominate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, will be “much less radical” than some people expect.

Trump said Kennedy and others in his administration will file reports sharing what they think about vaccines, but didn’t say what actions might be taken after those reports are released.

Trump said he didn’t like the idea of mandating vaccines, but didn’t go as far as saying he’d change vaccine policy for parts of the federal government, like the Defense Department, which has numerous requirements for troops, including the so-called peanut butter shot.

Kennedy is notorious for spreading misinformation about vaccine safety, one of the many issues that could imperil his attempts to garner U.S. Senate confirmation and actually lead HHS.

Trump said he wanted this administration to look at why autism rates have increased in recent decades. Multiple research studies have debunked any connections between vaccines and autism.

His administration, Trump said, would also look at ways to lower the costs of health care and prescription drugs within the United States, but he didn’t provide details.

Lawsuit threats

Trump doubled down on his grievances with news organizations during the press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, saying he planned to file several lawsuits in the days and weeks ahead against people or organizations he believes have wronged him.

The announcement came just days after Trump’s legal team reached a settlement with ABC News in which the news organization agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library.

The suit centered on anchor George Stephanopoulos saying during an interview that a New York state jury had found Trump liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll, when the jury had found him civilly liable for “sexual misconduct.”

Trump said during his press conference that he would likely file lawsuits against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer, the news show “60 Minutes” and the Pulitzer Prize organization for awards given to the New York Times and Washington Post. 

“In my opinion it was fraud and election interference,” he said of the Iowa Poll published by the Des Moines newspaper. “She’s got me right, always. She’s a very good pollster. She knows what she was doing, and she then quit before and we’ll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow.”

Selzer, a longtime pollster, said last week on Iowa PBS that she hadn’t yet figured out what went wrong with the poll she released just ahead of Election Day that showed Democratic presidential nominee Harris outperforming Trump in the state by 3 percentage points. Trump won Iowa in the election with 56% of the vote to her 42.7%.

“There wasn’t anything that we saw that needed to be fixed. The reality is that more people supporting Donald Trump turned out,” she said. “I’m eagerly awaiting the secretary of state’s turnout reports that will happen in January to see what we can glean from that.

“But there wasn’t an adjustment to my data when we saw that it was going to be a shocker that I would have said okay, let’s adjust it. It’s not like I know ahead of time what the right numbers are going to be in the future. So, you kind of take the data designed to reveal to me our best shot at what the future is going to look like.”

Selzer said during the PBS interview that she was “mystified” about allegations that she sought to interfere in the election results through the poll. Carol Hunter, executive editor of The Des Moines Register, could not be reached for comment.

Trump said he also planned to sue the CBS News program “60 Minutes” over how it edited an interview with Harris that was released before the election.

He said he wants to sue the Pulitzer Prize organization for awarding staff at The New York Times and The Washington Post the national reporting award in 2018 for their reporting on “Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”

“I want them to take back the Pulitzer Prizes and pay big damages,” Trump said.

The Pulitzer Prize Board announced in July 2022 that it would not revoke the prizes in response to an inquiry from Trump and two independent reviews of the work.

“Both reviews were conducted by individuals with no connection to the institutions whose work was under examination, nor any connection to each other,” the board wrote. “The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.

“The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.”

Israel and Ukraine

Trump said during his press conference that he would address the ongoing Israel-Gaza war as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine once he takes office, but didn’t say exactly how he’d encourage those countries to end their conflicts.

Trump said he believed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing a “fantastic job” and said he thinks his second administration will be able to solve longstanding issues throughout the Middle East.

“I think the Middle East will be in a good place,” Trump said. “I think actually more difficult is going to be the Russia-Ukraine situation. I see that as more difficult.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has refused to leave the country’s borders. In the years since Russia launched a war, numerous organizations, including the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have all made allegations of war crimes against Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement in February 2023 that “Russia’s forces and other Russian officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”

Russia, he wrote, had engaged in torture, rape, execution-style killings and “deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families.”  

Trump said during his press conference that he didn’t believe the Biden administration should have allowed Ukraine to shoot long-range missiles into Russia’s sovereign territory and said he may reverse the policy once in office.

“I thought it was a very stupid thing to do,” Trump said of the Biden administration’s policy. 

On the Israel-Hamas war, Trump declined to clarify exactly what he meant when he said there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas had not released the remaining hostages abducted in October 2023 before Trump took over the Oval Office. He simply added that it “would not be pleasant.”

Postal Service, TikTok, primary challengers

Trump left many questions about his agenda unanswered following the press conference.

He declined to clarify whether he would press to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, saying only that there was “talk” about severing the agency and that his team is “looking at that.”

He didn’t divulge whether his administration would seek to force social media giant TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company if it wants to remain operational within the United States. TikTok on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of an appeals court order preserving a bipartisan law forcing ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to cease operations in the United States.

“We’ll take a look at that,” Trump said.

He left open supporting Republican primary challenges against GOP senators who don’t support his nominees to lead federal departments and agencies.

A senator voting against one of his nominees “for political reasons or stupid reasons” would likely earn them a primary challenger, he said. But Trump added that wouldn’t have anything to do with him.

Trump also declined to say whether he expected Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration after extending an invitation.

“If he’d like to come, I’d love to have him, but there’s been nothing much discussed,” Trump said. “I have had discussions with him, letters, etc, etc, at a very high level. You know, we had a very good relationship until COVID. COVID didn’t end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me.”

Trump then added he believes Xi is “an amazing person.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter Robin Opsahl contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his intent to nominate Dr. Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In this photo, Oz speaks at a March 15, 2022 press conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Pennsylvania Capital-Star).

President-elect Donald Trump attends the America First Policy Institute Gala held at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 14, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. The annual event supports Grey Team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing military suicide. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump continued his blitz of Cabinet and senior staff selections, closing the week Friday with the announcement that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a former presidential rival turned Trump surrogate, is his candidate to lead the federal department responsible for vast swaths of federal lands and U.S. relations with Native American tribes.

Burgum also will head up a brand new “National Energy Council,” Trump said.

In just 10 days since his decisive win, Trump from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida rapidly disclosed his picks to lead major U.S. policy areas, including relationships around the globe and the health and well-being of Americans at home.

The president-elect, who trounced Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, has named roughly half of his intended nominees for the 15 executive departments that traditionally comprise a president’s Cabinet. If Trump follows through on his nominations, he’ll need the U.S. Senate’s approval for each.

That feat could be an uphill battle for Trump’s more controversial nominees — namely a Fox News host to oversee the entire U.S. military, a vaccine skeptic to administer health and science funding, and a recent Florida congressman who was investigated by the Department of Justice to wield the power of attorney general.

Trump has also drawn from his 2024 campaign staff, personal attorneys and pool of first-administration loyalists to fill several senior White House staff picks that do not require Senate approval.

Here are some of the president-elect’s latest choices:

• Burgum as secretary of the Interior. Trump announced Friday he will nominate Burgum, a former 2024 Republican presidential hopeful, to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior. The $18 billion, 70,000-employee department oversees 11 bureaus that have a vast reach over relations with Native American tribes; control of hundreds of wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries; and the management of 245 million acres of public land, a third of the country’s minerals, and leasing for energy extraction from U.S. ocean waters. Trump said in a statement Friday that he will create a National Energy Council, with Burgum at the helm, “to oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE,” he wrote. Burgum, a wealthy software executive turned governor, has filed a handful of lawsuits against the agency, including a challenge to open more oil and gas leasing in his state, according to the North Dakota Monitor. He dropped his 2024 presidential bid in January and endorsed Trump.

• Former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia as secretary of Veterans Affairs. Trump announced Thursday his choice of the ex-congressman from Georgia to lead the agency that distributes health care to 9 million veterans at over 1,200 facilities annually. The department, which asked Congress for a $369.3 billion budget for next year, also oversees veterans disability benefits and manages national veterans cemeteries and memorials. Collins, a lawyer, pastor and member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve since 2002, served in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2021, according to his congressional biography.

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services. The president-elect tapped Kennedy Jr. Thursday as his choice to lead the massive 80,000-employee Department of Health and Human Services that projects mandatory spending — think Medicare and Medicaid — will reach $1.7 trillion in 2025, and discretionary spending at $130.7 billion. Also under the huge HHS umbrella are the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Kennedy Jr., a former 2024 presidential hopeful who dropped out and endorsed Trump, is well known for his spreading of vaccine misinformation. The former environmental lawyer and son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy also made headlines during the 2024 race for admitting he dumped a dead bear cub in New York’s Central Park nearly a decade ago, among other unusual revelations.

• Trump attorney D. John Sauer as solicitor general of the United States. In his last staffing announcement Thursday, Trump said he intends to nominate his defense attorney in his federal election interference case to be the U.S. Justice Department’s litigator before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sauer successfully argued Trump’s presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court in April. Sauer made headlines at Trump’s federal January appeal hearing for appearing to argue that a president’s order for SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival would be covered under presidential immunity. Sauer, Missouri’s former solicitor general, was among those who filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of Texas’ lawsuit to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

• Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz as attorney general. Trump dropped a bombshell Wednesday afternoon when he revealed he will nominate the now-ex-lawmaker Gaetz of Florida as attorney general. Gaetz resigned from the U.S. House hours after Trump’s announcement, getting ahead of an anticipated ethics report on his alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use that could have been released Friday, according to several news outlets. Politico reported Friday that U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., does not want the report released, despite pressure from some in his own party. Gaetz, who if confirmed by the Senate would be the nation’s top law enforcement officer, was investigated by the Justice Department for two years, beginning under Trump’s first administration, for possible sex trafficking. The probe was dropped last year, as has been widely reported. Trump campaigned on meting out retribution from the Justice Department for his political foes following two federal investigations into his alleged stockpiling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and his alleged subversion of the 2020 presidential election. Gaetz is a staunch Trump ally and was among the nearly 140 House Republicans who objected to the 2020 election results. Trump has also tapped his personal criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general.

Within the past seven days, Trump also announced his plans to nominate former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Jay Clayton as a U.S. attorney, former Democratic Congresswoman-turned-Republican Tulsi Gabbard as the director of national intelligence, Sen. Marco Rubio as secretary of State, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as secretary of Defense, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security chief, GOP Rep. Mike Waltz as national security adviser, former head of national intelligence John Ratcliffe as CIA director, former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Tom Homan as “border czar,” former Trump White House adviser and immigration policy architect Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former Congressman Lee Zeldin as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and his 2024 campaign manager, Susie Wiles as his chief of staff. 

The president-elect made waves as well when declaring this past week that billionaire campaign donor Elon Musk and former presidential hopeful, now a staunch Trump supporter, Vivek Ramaswamy will together run an ambiguous entity titled the Department of Government Efficiency. Shortened to DOGE, it is still unclear how the organization would operate and interact with the federal government.

This article has been updated to reflect the correct title for Jay Clayton.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday he plans to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, another controversial candidate who could face a challenging confirmation process in the U.S. Senate given his non-scientific beliefs about public health, including his anti-vaccine stance.

“I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),” Trump posted on social media. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”

HHS receives about $116.8 billion in discretionary federal funds and about $1.7 trillion in mandatory spending each year and houses several big-name public health agencies, including the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response or ASPR, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Kennedy ran in this year’s presidential election as an independent candidate, often repeating inaccurate information about vaccines and spreading other conspiracy theories about public health.

He has no background in science, research, or medicine. He graduated from Harvard University before going on to receive a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School.

He pleaded guilty to felony heroin possession in Rapid City, S.D., in February 1984, before receiving two years of probation, which ended a year early. He volunteered with the Natural Resources Defense Council as part of that probation.

Kennedy spent much of his career as an environmental lawyer and published several books.

After ending his own presidential bid this year, Kennedy endorsed Trump and campaigned frequently for him.

Criticism of the nomination began quickly after news broke Thursday, though far-right Republicans are expected to celebrate the nomination.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog nonprofit organization Public Citizen, released a written statement saying, “Kennedy is a science-denying, morally-bankrupt conspiracy theorist who will endanger people’s lives if placed in a position of authority over health. The U.S. Senate should unanimously reject this nomination.”

Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released a written statement that he’s interested in learning more about Kennedy during the confirmation process.

“RFK Jr. has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure,” Cassidy wrote. “I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.” 

Washington state Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, a senior member of the HELP panel that will hold the confirmation hearing, wrote in a statement that Kennedy “could not be more dangerous — this is cause for deep concern for every American.”

“There is no telling how far a fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set back America in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research and innovation, and so much else,” Murray wrote. “The consequences here are not theoretical or superficial — health care access, coverage, research, and public health are life or death issues for people — and the COVID pandemic was an all too recent, all too painful reminder.”

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul congratulated Kennedy on social media, writing “Congratulations to @RobertKennedyJr on his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Finally, someone to detox the place after the Fauci era. Get ready for health care freedom and MAHA!”

Colorado’s Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, a former member of Congress who previously criticized Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance as a way to bring back polio and measles, cheered his nomination in a lengthy social media post.

“I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health.”

Polis added another post about an hour later, writing that science “must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety.”

“But if as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to drug high prices,” Polis added. “This is why I am for a major shake-up in institutions like the FDA that have been barriers to lowering drug costs and promoting healthy food choices. Lest there by any doubt, I am vaccinated as is my family. I will hold any HHS Secretary to the same high standard of protecting and improving public health.”

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 23: Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on August 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump.(Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

With early voting underway in Wisconsin and a week before Election Day, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an effort Tuesday by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be removed from the state’s ballots.

Kennedy, an independent, was placed on the presidential ballot after filing paperwork on Aug. 6, which included the signatures of thousands of Wisconsin voters who wanted him to run. He dropped out of the presidential election less than three weeks later and endorsed former President Donald Trump. He then launched an effort to be removed from Wisconsin’s ballot.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission was the first to deny his request to be kept off the ballot; officials cited state law requiring anyone who files the paperwork be placed on the ballot. Kennedy filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court last week after other appeals failed at appellate and state Supreme Courts. His name had already been printed on ballots with some being mailed out as the effort took place. In-person early voting in Wisconsin also started last week. 

Kennedy argued in his lawsuit that keeping him on the ballot violates his First Amendment right to endorse Trump. His attorneys had also argued that his name could be covered with a sticker, pointing to a state statute that allows clerks to do so if a candidate dies before the election takes place. Election officials warned voting machines hadn’t been tested with stickers and they could cause the machines to break. 

The U.S. Supreme Court did not explain its decision to reject the request. The Court also denied Kennedy’s effort to be removed from Michigan’s ballot on Tuesday.

Six third-party candidates, including Kennedy, Jill Stein and Cornel West, will appear on ballots in Wisconsin, a key battleground state, and are seen as potential spoilers in the presidential election because they could siphon votes from the major party candidates in what appears to be a very close race.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of third-party candidates on ballots in Wisconsin. 

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 23: Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on August 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump.(Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed an emergency request Monday seeking to have U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett issue an emergency injunction pending an appeal to the Court that would allow his name to be taken off the presidential ballot in Wisconsin. 

Before Kennedy ended his third party presidential run late this summer and endorsed former President Donald Trump, he had filed the paperwork — which included the signatures of thousands of Wisconsin voters who wanted him to run — to get on the ballot. Later, he asked that the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) not include his name on the ticket, but the commission ruled that state law requires anyone who files the paperwork be placed on the ballot. 

Kennedy sued to get his name removed in circuit court, lost and then lost appeals at the appellate and state Supreme Courts. Kennedy’s appeals were taking place right before absentee voting was set to begin, with county clerks across the state having already printed and begun mailing ballots with his name on them. 

Attorneys for Kennedy pointed to a state statute that allows clerks to cover a candidate’s name with a sticker if that candidate dies before the election takes place and said Kennedy’s name on the ballots could be covered the same way. Election officials across the state warned that the voting machines used to count ballots haven’t been tested with stickers and that those stickers could cause the machines to break — both forcing election staff across the state to use a less accurate hand count of vote totals and local governments to cover the costs of repairing the machines. 

In a brief filed during the state court proceedings, Kennedy’s attorneys said “it doesn’t matter” that their proposed solution could wreak havoc on the state’s election systems. 

Kennedy’s lawsuits argue that state law discriminates against third party candidates for president by giving them less time between when the required paperwork is due and WEC finalizes the ballot to decide whether or not to run. He’s also argued that keeping him on the ballot violates his First Amendment right to endorse Trump. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled against Kennedy’s efforts in late September. Weeks later, the day before early voting was set to start, he filed his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. As of Thursday morning, 810,626 absentee ballots with his name on them have already been mailed to voters, 592,902 of those ballots have already been returned and another 191,869 people have cast early votes. 

At the same time that he has been working to get off the ballot in some states, including successfully in North Carolina, Kennedy has been suing to get on the ballot in others. A lawsuit to force his name onto the New York ballot was unsuccessful. 

“It’s Robert F. Kennedy’s absolute right to endorse Donald Trump for President,” the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court states. “Over the past months, he’s done that in myriad ways, all over the country and especially in the critical swing state of Wisconsin, where Kennedy has appeared at rallies, spoken on television shows, and provided public endorsements whenever and wherever he could. In Wisconsin, he wants everyone who will listen to him to vote for Trump. That is core political speech and it’s protected under the First Amendment. To ensure that message is conveyed clearly and without confusion, he asked that his name not appear on the Wisconsin ballot. He wanted to be clear: his endorsement was for Trump.”

In the filing to the Supreme Court, Kennedy’s attorneys state that “the costs of administering a remedy would be minimal” even though more than a million ballots with his name on them have already been sent out or even filled out and returned. 

In September, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take action in a similar case involving a third party presidential candidate. In that case, the Court refused Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s effort to get on the ballot in Nevada.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court chambers. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lost another round Friday in his effort to get off the Wisconsin presidential ballot in November.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a seven-page opinion, ruled that Kennedy “failed to demonstrate” that a Dane County judge had erred when denying Kennedy’s petition for a court to remove him from the ballot.  

Kennedy, running under a third-party banner, filed nomination papers in early August to be included among presidential candidates on the Wisconsin ballot.

Kennedy subsequently dropped out of the race, endorsing former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.

Shortly before the Wisconsin Elections Commission met Aug. 27 to certify candidates, Kennedy wrote the commission seeking to withdraw as a candidate.

The commission voted 5-1 to deny his request. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs cited a state law that candidates who file nomination papers and qualify to run cannot withdraw and must remain on the ballot, unless they die.

Kennedy sued in Dane County Circuit Court, asking the judge to review the commission’s decision but also seeking a temporary injunction that would order the commission to remove his name from the ballot. Judge Stephen Ehlke denied Kennedy’s requests, ruling that state law does not allow a candidate to withdraw from the presidential race after filing nomination papers.

After Kennedy’s lawyer appealed the state Supreme Court approved the elections commission’s request to bypass the appeals court.

In denying the temporary injunction, Ehlke ruled that it had failed to meet three of four required conditions: Kennedy wouldn’t suffer “irreparable harm,” an injunction would not “preserve the status quo” and Kennedy was unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claim.

According to the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, appellate briefs Kennedy’s lawyers filed in the case were inadequate for the court to review his claims of harm or of his potential for success.

“Consequently, because there is no basis in this appeal on which we could determine that the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion, we must affirm the circuit court’s order denying Kennedy’s motion for a temporary injunction,” the opinion states.

The opinion was unsigned, although it was accompanied by a concurrence signed by Justice Rebecca Bradley and joined by Chief Justice Annette Ziegler. Bradley said she did not disagree that the briefs from Kennedy’s lawyers were inadequate, but she also took a shot at the Court majority.

The timelines under which the elections commission and the high court operate “hamstring candidates in Kennedy’s situation,” Bradley wrote. 

She added that while Kennedy could have gained more time by going to the Supreme Court initially with an original action petition “this court’s decisions to grant or deny original action petitions lack predictable standards, leaving parties to guess the right avenue” for challenging the elections commission.

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 23: Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on August 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump.(Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Thursday asked the state Supreme Court to take up Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lawsuit seeking to force his name off the presidential ballot in the state, bypassing the Court of Appeals. 

Kennedy has been trying for weeks to get his name off the ballot after filing nomination papers to get his name on the ticket but then later dropping out of the race and endorsing former President Donald Trump. More than 8,000 Wisconsin voters signed nomination papers to put Kennedy on the ballot. WEC ruled that state law requires a candidate who files the proper paperwork to get on the ballot to remain on the ballot unless they die. 

Kennedy has been trying to get off the ballot in a number of states, succeeding in a few. His effort comes as polling has shown that his support largely draws votes away from Trump. 

Earlier this week, a Dane County judge dismissed a lawsuit from Kennedy against the WEC decision and on Wednesday the state’s District 2 Court of Appeals, controlled by a conservative majority, took up the case. 

In its request for the Supreme Court to take up the case, WEC said that Kennedy is seeking “extraordinary” relief and the case should move to the state’s highest court because it is “highly time sensitive and hugely consequential for the people of Wisconsin.” 

If Kennedy’s effort is successful, the remedy is now complicated because local election clerks have already put hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots into the mail. An effort to print new ballots would be hugely expensive to county clerks across the state. Kennedy’s attorneys have suggested placing white stickers over his name on the ballots — a remedy that is available under state law if a candidate dies. 

WEC added that the Supreme Court should accept the case and issue a final resolution, avoiding a temporary decision at the appeals court that will still end up at the Supreme Court level. 

“This Court should provide final resolution of this case and avoid an interim appellate court decision that disrupts or casts doubt on that process, or causes clerks to commence an all-hands-on-deck stickering effort,” WEC’s petition states.

When it accepted the case, the appeals court asked a number of questions about the viability of the stickers, including if electronic machines would be able to handle their use. The appeals court had asked for Kennedy’s attorneys to file briefs in the case by Thursday with responses from WEC by Friday. 

In its petition to the Supreme Court, WEC calls the proposal of the stickers a “logistical nightmare.” 

“Kennedy appears to recognize that it is too late to reprint the ballots, which already are on their way to municipal clerks and absentee voters, including overseas and military voters,” the petition states. “He proposes that all can be solved by requiring local clerks to create and affix stickers to every Wisconsin ballot, but that solution would ignore state law; force clerks to spend tens of thousands of hours creating and affixing stickers; and, as the circuit court put it, create a ‘logistical nightmare’ that could threaten the accuracy of the election results and confidence in the election.”

As part of its request to bypass the appellate court, WEC Technology Director Robert Kehoe stated that more than 340,000 absentee ballots have been sent to voters in the mail. He also said that he is “unaware of any clerk ever placing stickers on ballots in the administration of an election,” adding that the stickers could cause problems with votes being counted. 

“The voting tabulation machines tested and certified for use in this state by the Commission are calibrated to read even a light mark so that no vote goes uncounted, and a sticker in the target area of an oval or error could register a double vote,” Kehoe stated. “Even a shadow or wrinkle (for instance, caused by how the sticker is applied) on an optical scan ballot can cause the voting tabulation machine to register a vote.”

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Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. takes the stage at the Des Moines Register soapbox Aug. 12, 2023. On Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, national Democrats alleged Kennedy has illegally coordinated with a super PAC to gather signatures for his bid. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Wisconsin’s District 2 Court of Appeals has agreed to hear former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lawsuit asking that his name be removed from the ballot in Wisconsin. 

The court, held by a conservative majority, ruled on Wednesday that it will hear the case, in which Kennedy is attempting to get off the ballot despite having filed nomination papers  in which more than 8,000 voters signed petitions stating they want him on the ticket. 

The Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) previously ruled that state law requires that candidates who have filed nomination papers and have qualified must be included on the ballot unless they die before Election Day. A Dane County judge ruled earlier this week against Kennedy’s effort. 

The appeal comes as absentee voting kicks off in Wisconsin, throwing a potential wrench in the start of the voting process. As of Wednesday, local election clerks are required to begin mailing absentee ballots to voters who already have requests on file. Many clerks have gotten a head start, with WEC data showing more than 295,000 ballots have already been put in the mail. 

County clerks were also required this week to deliver printed ballots to municipal clerks, adding a potential massive cost to local governments if Kennedy’s name were to be removed and ballots need to be reprinted. At a Dane County court hearing this week, Kennedy’s attorneys suggested using white stickers to cover Kennedy’s name on ballots — an option available to election officials if a candidate dies. 

In its ruling accepting the case, the appeals court included a number of questions about the stickers it would like the parties in the lawsuit to answer in their briefs. The questions include if it matters that ballots with stickers on them have not been tested with voting equipment; if a candidate for a statewide office such as attorney general died and stickers were used, would those stickers need to be put on ballots statewide; and if election clerks have the discretion not to use the stickers if a candidate dies after ballots have been printed. 

The appeals court ruling orders that all briefs in the case be filed by Friday afternoon.

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A Dane County judge has rejected a request from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., shown here campaigning for president in Iowa in August 2023, to have his name removed from Wisconsin's presidential ballot in November. (Jay Waagmeester | Iowa Capital Dispatch)

A Dane County judge on Monday rejected a request from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to have his name removed from the presidential ballot in Wisconsin this November. 

An attorney for Kennedy said immediately after the decision that he plans to appeal. A separate case on the issue had already been separately filed with the more conservative District 2 Court of Appeals, which covers the suburban counties around Milwaukee. 

Dane County Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled that state law does not allow a candidate to withdraw from the presidential race once they file nomination papers. Ehlke said Kennedy was asking him to make an exception to the law for only him. 

“However, courts are required to apply the law as written, not as some party wishes it were written,” Ehlke said. 

Kennedy dropped out of the race in August, after he’d filed to get his name on the ballot in Wisconsin. After ending his campaign, Kennedy endorsed former President Donald Trump. Polls show that Kennedy’s candidacy likely pulled supporters from Trump. 

Last week in a similar case, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Kennedy’s name must be removed from the state’s ballots, causing a delay of up to two weeks. 

The Wisconsin Elections Commission previously ruled that Kennedy’s name must appear on the ballot, finding that if a candidate successfully files nomination papers to appear on the ballot, the only event that can cause the candidate’s removal is death. 

In Wisconsin, a ruling to take Kennedy’s name off the ballot would cause delays and added expenses to county clerks responsible for printing ballots. Ballots with his name on them have already been printed across the state because county clerks must get them in the hands of municipal clerks by Wednesday. The first absentee ballots for requests that clerks already have on file must be sent this week. 

If a candidate dies after ballots have been printed, the candidate’s name may be covered by a white sticker on the ballot. Kennedy’s attorneys pushed for his name to be similarly covered with stickers. 

Assistant Attorney General Stephen Kilpatrick said that the labor required to cover Kennedy’s name on ballots and the unknown effect the stickers would have on vote tabulating machines made that an impossible request that would also force clerks to miss state and federal deadlines.

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA - AUGUST 23: Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on August 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona.Kennedy announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign and supporting Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump.(Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has asked Wisconsin’s District 2 Court of Appeals to remove his name from the state’s presidential ballot, saying he’s “running against the clock.” 

The request comes after a Dane County Circuit Court judge, working in a different appellate district, rejected Kennedy’s request to issue an injunction last week before the Wisconsin Elections Commission had a chance to respond. The judge, Stephen Ehlke, instead set a scheduling conference that happened on Wednesday. 

Kennedy’s legal maneuvers come after he ended his presidential campaign last month and endorsed former President Donald Trump. Polls show Kennedy’s presence on the ballot largely pulls support from Trump. 

Kennedy had asked the WEC to remove his name from the ballot, a request the body denied earlier this month. His campaign had filed nomination papers with the state on Aug. 6 and state law does not include a mechanism to take back that filing. 

His attorneys argued to the more conservative friendly 2nd District that the briefing schedule in the Dane County case would take too long and by the time a decision is reached, ballots will already be printed and sent out. 

County clerks across the state have already begun printing ballots, with the first absentee ballots required to be put in the mail Sept. 19. In 2020, the state Supreme Court denied an attempt by the Green Party to have its candidates put on the ballot because the lawsuit was filed after ballots had been printed. 

Kennedy’s attorneys argued the appeals court should take up the case so the WEC can’t run out the clock. 

“Its victory will not be one of principle and precedent but procrastination,” Kennedy’s attorneys argued.

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