RFK Jr. is fighting the ruling that barred him from the New York election

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to appeal against a ruling in the state of New York that barred him from running for president in that state, even though he had announced that he would suspend his presidential campaign as an independent candidate.

On Wednesday, Kennedy’s lawyers filed a motion before a New York appeals court to have him reinstated on the state’s presidential ballot following a ruling earlier this month.

Albany Superior Court Judge Christina Ryba ruled on August 12 that Kennedy falsely stated on the application forms that he lived in New York. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed against Kennedy by Clear Choice, a Democratic-leaning political action committee.

The lawsuit alleged that Kennedy’s nomination petition stated that he lived in a Manhattan suburb, when in reality he has lived in Los Angeles with his wife, Cheryl Hines, co-star of the HBO sitcom, since 2014. Curb your enthusiasm.

On August 23, Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat who ran as an independent for most of his 2024 campaign, announced that he would suspend his presidential bid and instead endorse Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump. Speculation has since grown that Kennedy will be offered a role in Trump’s administration in exchange for his support.

Kennedy has begun removing his name from ballots in key swing states, including Maine, where election officials confirmed Wednesday that he had met the deadline to withdraw. But Kennedy has urged his supporters in other states to continue supporting him.

Meanwhile, his legal team is defending his decision to list a friend’s house in a New York suburb as his address, insisting that Kennedy did not intend to deceive anyone and is right to call himself a New Yorker.

On Wednesday, Kennedy’s attorney Jim Walden told an appeals judge: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could have named the moon as his residence and no one would have thought he was Robert F. Kennedy.”

Walden also noted that courts have historically accepted petition addresses as valid unless there is clear evidence of deception or confusion. In his conversation with the judge, Walden said Kennedy was “one of the most respected political families in the history of the United States” and there was no evidence of deception.

John Quinn, the attorney for the voters named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, argued before the judges that Kennedy was legally obligated to fill out his paperwork correctly.

“Mr. Kennedy could have lived anywhere. He just couldn’t lie about where he lived,” Quinn said.

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press.