Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can remain on the North Carolina presidential ballot, judge says

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can remain on the North Carolina presidential ballot, judge says

2024-08-13 22:19 Last Updated At：22:21

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can remain on North Carolina's presidential ballots after a state judge on Monday refused to block printing his name and those of other candidates of the “We the People” party that was recently certified by the State Board of Elections.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory rejected the preliminary injunction request by the North Carolina Democratic Party, which challenged the board's decision last month that declared We the People an official party.

Separately late Monday, a federal judge halted the board's rejection of official party status for another political group — Justice for All — that collected signatures to put progressive activist and professor Cornel West on the presidential ballot. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle told the board to declare Justice for All of North Carolina an official party and to accept its candidates for the fall ballot.

The board had voted 4-1 to recognize We the People, which has been used by Kennedy's supporters to get the environmentalist and author on the ballot in a handful of states. Kennedy otherwise promotes himself nationally as an independent. The decision came as a New York judge ruled against Kennedy ’s inclusion on the ballot there, saying he’s a California resident.

Board staff last found We The People organizers turned in enough valid signatures from registered and qualified voters to exceed the petition threshold in state law, which is currently 13,865. Petition collectors also must inform the signers of the general purpose and intent of the proposed party.

Lawyers for We the People and the state said the board granted the certification properly, in keeping with rules approved by the General Assembly.

“You simply asked this court to look at the law and you said the state board didn’t violate it," Gregory told state attorney Terence Steed at the close of the nearly two-hour hearing. “I agree.”

The state Democratic Party filed a complaint seeking the board's decision be reversed. It accused Kennedy's campaign of using the We the People vehicle to evade the tougher standard that state law sets for independent candidates to get on the ballot — the collection of six times as many signatures.

Two of the board's Democrats joined the two Republicans in giving We the People official party status on July 16. But even one of those two Democrats — Chair Alan Hirsch — said at the time the We The People effort was "a subterfuge” and suggested the matter was ripe for a legal challenge.

Ray Bennett, a lawyer representing the Democrats in the lawsuit, pointed in court to We the People petition instructions stating the party's purpose was simply to create a new party to put Kennedy on the ballot. That's impermissible, Bennett said, and it would otherwise prompt all independent candidates to favor the easier political party signature process.

But Steed and Oliver Hall, a lawyer representing We the People, said the certification law contains no test that the election board must use to decide whether a new party's purpose is acceptable — rather, it simply must have one.

Hall also said removing We the People from the ballot would be an extraordinary action that violates voters' First Amendment rights.

A state Democratic Party spokesperson didn't respond Monday to an email seeking comment on Gregory's decision, which the judge planned to issue in writing later and could be appealed.

The Democratic lawyers had asked that Gregory act by the end of the week. State election officials have said that's when they needed all candidate names for fall ballot printing.

Democrats are worried Kennedy still has enough left-wing star appeal that he could peel off voters from their presidential nominee, who was expected to be President Joe Biden until he dropped his reelection bid last month. Vice President Kamala Harris has since won the nomination.

The Justice for All litigation stemmed from the board's Democratic majority voting 3-2 to reject the group's petition for official party status.

Board staff said it had received more than 17,000 signatures for Justice for All. But Democratic board members questioned how most of the signatures turned in were collected, including those sought by an outside organization called People Over Party. Board staff said dozens of voters whose names were on that list of signatures said they didn’t sign the petition or didn’t know what it was for. And the board said potentially fraudulent signatures were being investigated.

Boyle ruled the board went too far in throwing out the entire petition request. He said People Over Party submitted documents showing how it complied with the petition law. As for allegations of fraud, the board could have simply removed the signatures from counties where many reports originated, subtracting them from the total.

“The Board effectively disenfranchised over 17,000 North Carolina voters who signed petitions to certify JFA as a new political party on flawed, highly suspect grounds,” Boyle wrote while declaring the plaintiffs were likely to win in court on their First Amendment claims. Boyle's ruling can also be appealed.

Justice for All of North Carolina co-chair Italo Medelius praised Boyle's decision, saying Tuesday that it's "not just a win for JFA but a victory for every North Carolinian who believes in the power of choice and the strength of democracy.”

Kennedy’s campaign has said he is officially on the ballot in 17 states and signatures have been submitted in 23 more. The West campaign said Tuesday it has enough signatures and party nominations needed to get on the ballot in 16 states.

Dow drops nearly 1,680 in biggest wipeout since 2020 as fears of fallout from tariffs shake markets

2025-04-04 04:07 Last Updated At：04:10

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial markets around the world reeled following President Donald Trump’s latest and most severe set of tariffs, and the U.S. stock market took the worst of it. The S&P 500 fell 4.8% Thursday, more than other major stock markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,679 points, and the Nasdaq composite sank 6%. Little was spared as fear flared globally about the potentially toxic mix of weakening economic growth and higher inflation that tariffs can create. Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies fell. Even gold pulled lower.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market buckled Thursday, and a level of shock unseen in years tore through financial markets worldwide on worries about the damage President Donald Trump 's newest set of tariffs could do to economies across continents, including his own.

The S&P 500 was down 4.2% in late trading, more than in major markets across Asia and Europe. It's heading toward its worst day in more than two years, and it's close to its worst since COVID shattered the economy in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,426 points, or 3.4%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 5.2% lower.

Little was spared in financial markets as fear flared about the potentially toxic mix of weakening economic growth and higher inflation that tariffs can create.

Everything from crude oil to Big Tech stocks to the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies fell. Even gold, which has hit records recently as investors sought something safer to own, pulled lower. Some of the worst hits walloped smaller U.S. companies, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks dropped 5.9% to pull more than 20% below its record.

Investors worldwide knew Trump was going to announce a sweeping set of tariffs late Wednesday, and fears surrounding it had already pulled Wall Street's main measure of health, the S&P 500 index, 10% below its all-time high. But Trump still managed to surprise them with “the worst case scenario for tariffs,” according to Mary Ann Bartels, chief investment officer at Sanctuary Wealth.

Trump announced a minimum tariff of 10% on imports, with the tax rate running much higher on products from certain countries like China and those from the European Union. It’s “plausible” the tariffs altogether, which would rival levels unseen in roughly a century, could knock down U.S. economic growth by 2 percentage points this year and raise inflation close to 5%, according to UBS.

Such a hit would be so big that it “makes one’s rational mind regard the possibility of them sticking as low,” according to Bhanu Baweja and other strategists at UBS.

Wall Street had long assumed Trump would use tariffs merely as a tool for negotiations with other countries, rather than as a long-term policy. But Wednesday’s announcement may suggest Trump sees tariffs more as helping to solve an ideological goal than as an opening bet in a poker game. Trump on Wednesday talked about wresting manufacturing jobs back to the United States, a process that could take years.

If Trump follows through on his tariffs, stock prices may need to fall much more than 10% from their all-time high in order to reflect the recession that could follow, along with the hit to profits that U.S. companies could take. The S&P 500 is now down roughly 11% from its record set in February.

“Markets may actually be underreacting, especially if these rates turn out to be final, given the potential knock-on effects to global consumption and trade,” said Sean Sun, portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, though he sees Trump’s announcement on Wednesday as more of an opening move than an endpoint for policy.

Trump offered an upbeat reaction on Thursday after he was asked about the stock market drop as he left the White House to fly to his Florida golf club. “I think it’s going very well,” he said. “We have an operation, like when a patient gets operated on and it’s a big thing. I said this would exactly be the way it is."

One wild card is that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates in order to support the economy. That’s what it had been doing late last year before pausing in 2025. Lower interest rates help by making it easier for U.S. companies and households to borrow and spend.

Yields on Treasurys tumbled in part on rising expectations for coming cuts to rates, along with general fear about the health of the U.S. economy. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.05% from 4.20% late Wednesday and from roughly 4.80% in January. That’s a huge move for the bond market.

The Fed may have less freedom to move than it would like, though. While lower rates can goose the economy, they can also push upward on inflation. And worries are already worsening about that because of tariffs, with U.S. households in particular bracing for sharp increases in their bills.

The U.S. economy at the moment is still growing, of course. A report on Thursday said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. Economist had been expecting to see an uptick in joblessness, and a relatively solid job market has been the linchpin keeping the economy out of recession.

A separate report said activity for U.S. transportation, finance and other businesses in the services industry grew last month. But the growth was weaker than expected, and businesses gave a mixed picture of how they see conditions.

One business told the survey by the Institute for Supply Management that its restaurant sales and traffic have improved, for example. But another said tariffs on wood imported from Canada and the “resulting delays have caused havoc with the supply chain and deliveries.” A third in the construction industry said it's “starting to see effect of aluminum tariff. These costs will be passed on to customers.”

Worries about a potentially stagnating economy and high inflation knocked down all kinds of stocks, leading to drops for three out of every four that make up the S&P 500.

Best Buy fell 17.1% because the electronics that it sells are made all over the world. United Airlines lost 14% because customers worried about the global economy may not fly as much for business or feel comfortable enough to take vacations. Target tumbled 10.8% amid worries that its customers, already squeezed by still-high inflation, may be under even more stress.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell sharply worldwide. France’s CAC 40 dropped 3.3%, and Germany’s DAX lost 3% in Europe.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 sank 2.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.5% and South Korea’s Kospi dropped 0.8%.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.