The Nevada Supreme Court handed a victory Thursday to Democratic state prosecutors who charged the state’s pro-Trump “fake electors” from 2020.
The court ruled that the case should proceed in Clark County, home to Las Vegas and the bulk of the state’s Democratic electorate. A lower court previously dismissed the case on the grounds that it was filed in the wrong venue, forcing prosecutors to refile the case instead in Carson City, the more conservative state capital.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat who is prosecuting the case, praised the ruling in a statement.
“The 2020 fake electors cannot evade accountability in Nevada for their unlawful actions,” he said. “As attorney general, it is my duty to hold those who sought to undermine the results of our state’s free and fair election responsible.”
The high court sided with the state prosecutors, who preferred that the case proceed in Las Vegas, which might have a more favorable jury pool than Carson City.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump granted federal pardons to many of the “fake electors” from 2020, including those in Nevada, who tried to subvert the Electoral College process. However, those pardons only cover potential federal offenses, and the Nevada case alleges that the fake electors violated state law.
The so-called fake electors have pleaded not guilty and deny wrongdoing.
The six Republicans facing charges signed fake certificates in December 2020, falsely proclaiming that Trump had beaten Joe Biden in the state.
The Trump campaign used that phony certificate, and similar documents from six other states, to try to overturn the result of the 2020 election when Congress met on January 6, 2021, to count the electoral votes.
Efforts by state investigators to prosecute the fake electors have had mixed results. A case filed by Michigan’s Democratic attorney general was dismissed this year due to lack of evidence. A case in Georgia is stalled. Similar prosecutions in Arizona and Wisconsin are ongoing.
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