The long-running criminal case against six Nevada Republicans accused of submitting a false certificate declaring President Donald Trump the winner of the state’s 2020 election is headed back to Clark County — a venue prosecutors are expected to favor and one the defense had sought to avoid.
According to The Associated Press, the Nevada Supreme Court issued its opinion Thursday, overturning an earlier ruling that found Clark County was the wrong jurisdiction because the alleged crimes took place elsewhere.
The state’s high court determined the case belongs in Clark County, home to Las Vegas and a strongly Democratic electorate, reinstating a venue that could be far less favorable to the defendants.
Prosecutors say the six Republicans — who served as fake electors — intentionally signed and submitted documents falsely awarding Nevada’s six electoral votes to President Donald Trump, even though President-elect Joe Biden won the state by more than 30,000 votes.
The group convened outside the Nevada Legislature after the 2020 election and recorded their ceremony. That video was later used as core evidence in the case.
Officials have described the episode as part of a coordinated effort across seven battleground states to keep Trump in office despite his loss. Similar criminal cases have unfolded in Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona.
The ruling comes the same week President Trump pardoned Rudy Giuliani and others accused of helping him try to overturn the 2020 results.
The Nevada defendants insist the charges are politically motivated. They argue their actions were protected under the First Amendment and amounted to an expression of criticism of the state’s election process — not a criminal conspiracy.
All six have pleaded not guilty. Among them is Michael McDonald, chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, and Jesse Law, former head of the Clark County Republican Party, who was recently ousted in a July party election.
Defense attorneys have long argued that moving the case out of Clark County was essential for their clients’ chances of a fair trial. With the state Supreme Court reversing that lower-court decision, the case is now set to proceed before a Clark County jury that could be far more skeptical of the fake electors’ defense.
