The case against the six Nevada Republicans who submitted an invalid slate of electoral votes for former President Donald Trump in 2020 is moving up to the Nevada Supreme Court, after Attorney General Aaron Ford on Friday appealed a Clark County judge’s dismissal of the charges brought by his office.
Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus ruled in late June that she would dismiss the charges against six Nevada Republicans citing jurisdictional issues — saying she was unconvinced by state prosecutors’ arguments that Clark County was the appropriate county in which to hear the case.
Holthus ruled from the bench in June, but officially entered the orders dismissing the state’s case against each of the six fake electors Friday afternoon, according to the attorney general’s office. In a statement to The Nevada Independent, Ford announced that his office had appealed the decision.
With the case now moving up to the Nevada Supreme Court — the furthest the case can go beyond the U.S. Supreme Court — Ford said he believes the state will prevail.
“We remain confident in our case and look forward to bringing these individuals to justice and holding them accountable for their actions,” he said in a statement.
The six defendants — Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, Clark County GOP Chairman Jesse Law, state party Vice Chair Jim Hindle, Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice — were initially indicted on two counts each by a grand jury in December for their role in the fake elector plot. Attorneys representing the defendants did not return an emailed request for comment sent late Friday.
Similar false certification ceremonies were held in other swing states in which President Joe Biden prevailed over Trump. In four of those states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — prosecutors have brought charges related to the plot, with some targeting Trump himself and others focusing on just the fake electors or co-conspirators within the Trump campaign.
Ford’s office successfully sought the indictments on the basis that in submitting false certificates to federal and state election officials, the six had violated state law against offering a false instrument for filing and uttering a forged instrument.