Third-party presidential candidate Cornel West on Thursday lost a Supreme Court bid to be included on the presidential ballot in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
Justice Samuel Alito refused West's emergency appeal in a brief order. Alito handles appeals originating in Pennsylvania.
West, a liberal academic serving as professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York, likely would draw more votes away from Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris than from Republican Donald Trump.
The refusal comes after a rejection by U.S. District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan, a Donald Trump appointee who expressed sympathy for West's claim earlier this month but found it was too late to reprint ballots and retest election machines without increasing the risk of error.
Ranjan cited federal precedent that courts should not disrupt imminent elections without a powerful reason for doing so.
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