'Fake electors' case returning to Southern Nevada after state's Supreme Court ruling

Ricardo Torres-Cortez, Las Vegas Review-Journal on Nov 13, 2025

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The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the so-called “fake electors” case can be prosecuted in Clark County, reversing a lower court decision that led it to instead be filed in Carson City.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford responded by saying that the case — which accuses prominent Republican figures in the state — will come back to District Court in Las Vegas.

“Today the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed what we have maintained all along – that Clark County is the proper and lawful venue to prosecute our case, and I am pleased with the court’s decision to overturn the District Court’s dismissal of our case in Clark County,” Ford wrote in a statement.

He added: “The 2020 fake electors cannot evade accountability in Nevada for their unlawful actions.”

The defendants are: Longtime Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald; former Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law; James Hindle, the state’s party vice chair; James Degraffenreid, the Nevada party’s national committeeman; Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice.

They have pleaded not guilty.

Their defense attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump issued preemptive federal pardons for 77 people accused of trying to reverse the results of the 2020 elections, including six defendants in Nevada.

The pardons have no effect in Nevada because the case is being prosecuted in state court.

In the aftermath of the 2020 elections, prosecutors have alleged that the group, which was nominated by the Nevada Republican Party, held a ceremony in Carson City and signed the electoral certificate to give Nevada’s electoral votes to Trump.

Former President Joe Biden had just won the battleground state by more than 30,000 votes.

After District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus dismissed the case in June 2024, arguing that the court had no jurisdiction over the case, prosecutors appealed the ruling, but also filed the case in Carson City.

A Northern Nevada judge in October sent the case to trial. The defendants were each facing a charge of with uttering false instruments, or forgery.

In Clark County, they face charges of offering a false instrument for filing and uttering forged instruments.

The case’s initial dismissal centered around whether the signed electoral certification — which was sent to the Senate, the U.S. archivist, the Nevada secretary of state and U.S. District Court in Nevada — made its way through Clark County.

The Supreme Court opinion noted that the documents had been mailed to U.S. District Judge Miranda Du in Las Vegas.

“On the facts, respondents concede that the package containing the false certificates was mailed to and delivered at the federal court in Clark County,” the opinion said.

“We reverse the order dismissing the criminal indictment and remand to the district court,” added the opinion.

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