On November 18, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Ayyadurai v Democratic State Committee of New Jersey, 24-342. This is the lawsuit filed by independent presidential candidate Shiva Ayyadurai. He had enough valid signatures in New Jersey, and New Jersey has many times in the past printed the names of presidential and vice-presidential candidates who don’t meet the constitutional qualifications. But in this case the New Jersey Democratic Party had challenged Ayyadurai, and the lower state courts had upheld the challenge.

It is not clear why the New Jersey Democratic Party took this action.

If the U.S. Supreme Court had taken up the case, that could have settled some questions not answered in the Trump v Anderson case from early in 2024. There were many briefs filed in Trump v Anderson on the issue of whether unqualified candidates for president should nevertheless be allowed on the ballot, on the theory that the true candidates are running for presidential elector. Trump v Anderson bypassed that question.