Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate who has struggled to grow his base of support as Donald Trump and Kamala Harris dominate the polls, received more bad news this week. 

According to Fox News, Kennedy has now been disqualified from the ballot in New York, where a judge ruled that he used a "sham" address in his bid to be on the ballot.

Kennedy reportedly falsely claimed a New York residence for nominating petitions, when he was actually living in California, the judge said.

The struggling candidate has a strong, but smaller core base of support, but it's not enough to make much of a dent in the polls, and the judge's ruling just made that much more difficult.

What's going on?

New York Justice Christina L. Ryba published a 34-page ruling in explaining why Kennedy is now disqualified from appearing on New York ballots in November.

She wrote that his rented New York bedroom wasn't a "bona fide and legitimate residence, but merely a ‘sham’ address that he assumed for the purpose of maintaining his voter registration."

According to the judge, Kennedy's New York address "was a false statement requiring invalidation of the petition."

In her ruling, she doubled down, making it crystal clear that Kennedy's address was not going to cut it as far as being legitimate for political reasons.

"Using a friend’s address for political and voting purposes, while barely stepping foot on the premises, does not equate to residency under the Election Law," Justice Ryba wrote.

She added, "To hold otherwise would establish a dangerous precedent and open the door to the fraud and political mischief that the Election Law residency rules were designed to prevent."

Consequences

Fox News noted that if the ruling stands, it could lead to disastrous outcomes for Kennedy's longshot presidential bid in other states.

The outlet noted:

If the judge’s decision is upheld, it would keep Kennedy off the ballot in New York but could also lead to challenges in other states where he used an address in New York City’s suburbs to gather signatures. On Friday, Kennedy told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that he had enough signatures to appear on the ballot in all 50 states.

Kennedy and his campaign have already vowed to appeal the judge's decision, though it's not clear how long that process will take and if it will be done in time for November.

"The Democrats are showing contempt for democracy," Kennedy said in a statement in response to the ruling, adding that the ruling judge is a registered Democrat. "They aren’t confident they can win at the ballot box, so they are trying to stop voters from having a choice. We will appeal and we will win."