LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Nevada judge heard arguments Friday in the case against six Republicans accused of signing fake electoral college certificates falsely attesting that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
Judge Mary Kay Holthus said she needs additional time to review evidence and set a hearing for June 26, when she is expected to render a decision on whether the case should be dismissed or go before a Clark County jury.
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State prosecutors argued the case should go to a jury, while defense attorneys said the six electors never intended to deceive anyone.
Attorney Maggie McLetchie argued the certificates the Republican electors signed were obviously fake, lacking a signature from the secretary of state or a state seal. McLetchie told the judge the Republicans who signed the papers only did so as a backup plan in case a court later ruled Trump had won the election. She argued signing the certificates was an act of protest protected by the First Amendment.
"From the start, the state's effort to try to punish this disagreement and criminalize what is criminal has been trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Nothing fits, because there is not falsity or forgery," McLetchie said.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Alissa Engler mocked the idea that the fake certificates were simply a form of protest protected under the First Amendment, saying the electors did want to deceive people about the election results.
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"At the point at which they mailed them, the political theater stopped. The First Amendment doesn't protect criminal conduct. And they intended for those documents to be sent to all of those places to be considered," Engler said.
Holthus appeared skeptical of the state's case, saying repeatedly it would have been impossible for the false instruments to effect any change in the 2020 results. However, she also said the case was close and that she needed to review the evidence before deciding.
The legislature in 2023 and 2025 passed laws to specifically criminalize signing fake electoral certificates, but Governor Joe Lombardo vetoed both.
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