A Nevada judge on Thursday dismissed a criminal case against six Republicans accused of submitting a certificate falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of the state's 2020 presidential election. The defendants, who included Nevada GOP chair Michael McDonald and former Clark County GOP chair Jesse Law, had pleaded not guilty to charges of forgery and offering a false instrument for filing or record. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D), who brought the charges, announced that his office plans to appeal the ruling.
The case centered on a 2020 ceremony where the six electors gathered outside the Nevada Legislature to sign a certificate awarding the state's six electoral votes to Trump. While the ceremony was broadcast online and used as evidence by the state, the defendants argued the act was "political theater" intended to preserve their legal rights to challenge the election results. President Joe Biden won Nevada in 2020 by a margin of more than 30,000 votes.
Judge Mary Kay Holthus ruled that there was a lack of evidence showing the electors intended to deceive government officials into accepting the certificate as genuine. In her ruling, Holthus noted that the defendants openly announced their actions and stated their purpose, which she wrote weighed against an inference of fraudulent intent. Additionally, the judge determined that the state had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence to the grand jury during the indictment process.
For the defendants, the dismissal removes the immediate threat of criminal penalties related to forgery charges, which carry potential prison time and fines. An ordinary citizen would notice the impact of this case through the precedent it sets regarding the legal definition of fraudulent intent in political activity. Specifically, the court found that publicizing an action, rather than concealing it, serves as evidence against the intent to defraud government agencies. This distinction clarifies the legal boundaries for political demonstrations involving official-looking documents.
The ruling has knock-on effects for other pending and future election-related litigation. In Arizona, Attorney General Kris Mayes recently dismissed a similar case but stated she intends to bring it back to a grand jury. Other cases in Michigan and Georgia were previously dismissed, and a federal case against Donald Trump was dropped in late 2024 following his election victory. While a case remains ongoing in Wisconsin, the Nevada dismissal adds to a trend of state-level setbacks for these specific prosecutions. The next step in Nevada will be the Attorney General's appeal, for which a specific date has not yet been reported.