A New Jersey state trial court will hear Salmon v Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Friday, July 26. This is a lawsuit filed by a New Jersey voter to keep Kennedy off the general election ballot as an independent. The challenger says that Kennedy can’t be on the ballot because he got some write-ins in the June 4, 2024 Democratic presidential primary, and therefore he is a “sore loser”.

Kennedy responds that he didn’t file a petition to be on the June primary ballot and is therefore not a “sore loser”. He also says there are procedural objections to the lawsuit. Kennedy’s brief does not mention the fact that New Jersey’s sore loser law has been held not to apply to presidential primaries. Both Lyndon LaRouche (in 1992) and David Duke (in 1988) did petition to be on the Democratic primary ballot, and then also petitioned to be on the general election ballot as independents.

The case is in Mercer Superior Court, MER-L241-24.

On July 22, No Labels filed its brief in the Ninth Circuit in No Labels Party v Fontes, 24-563. This is the case on whether a party has a freedom of association right to block anyone from running in its primary for offices for which the party doesn’t want candidates. No Labels only wanted a presidential candidate.

No Labels is no longer participating in elections, but both sides want the issue to be settled. This will be an interesting case on the constitutional rights of political parties.

In May, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., submitted 245,000 signatures to be on the Texas ballot as an independent. On July 22 the Texas Democratic Party asserted that 70% of his signatures are invalid. The requirement is 113,151 signatures. The Texas Democratic Party statement did not say how they know that only 30% are valid. See this story.