Dem
47
GOP
53
Readers will recall that Donald Trump's people (we very seriously doubt he was able to handle this himself) recruited a handful of Trump cultists in various swing states, so that those folks could cast the state's "real" electoral votes for Trump. Casting fraudulent electoral votes is a crime, but the defendants in the various states have had generally good luck at beating the rap, either by finding a judge with an interesting definition of "fraud" (Michigan), or by drawing a DA with a zipper problem (GA), or by finding ways to nitpick their indictment and drag the process out (Arizona).
The cultists in Nevada thought they might have gotten away with it, since their case was semi-dismissed back in July. State AG Aaron Ford brought the case in Las Vegas, because that is where most of the plotting took place, and also because he knows well that he'll get a much less Trumpy jury in that area. The defense's attorneys argued that the case should have been brought in Carson City, since that is where the fake electoral certificates were signed (the crime the defendants are charged with is forgery), and because they know well that they'll get a much more Trumpy jury up north. A judge agreed with the defendants, which left Ford with the choice of starting over at square one and accepting a tougher jury, or else appealing the decision.
Ford chose to appeal, and yesterday the Nevada Supreme Court ruled 6-0 in his favor. Their decision was based on one point of fact, and one point of law. The point of fact was that the phony election certificates were signed in Carson City, but then were mailed to several people in Las Vegas, including a couple of judges, in an effort to make them "official." The defendants' lawyers took the position that the crime (again, forgery) took place in Carson City. The Court said that you can forge someone's name all day long, to your heart's content, without breaking the law. It doesn't become illegal until you try to pass those forgeries off as real to some other person. So, per the justices, the crime didn't become a crime until the documents were received by those judges in Las Vegas. It also became a crime the moment a copy of those documents were received by the Archivist of the United States, but that's a federal matter, and Ford's case is a state matter.
Meanwhile, the point of law, spelled out in detail in the Court's ruling, is that if a crime unfolds across multiple locations, Nevada law allows charges to be brought in any of those locations.
So, the defendants' case crashed and burned, big-time, as their arguments were ripped to pieces by a unanimous Court, including judges from both political parties. That means that instead of starting over, and in a more Trumpy place, Ford can resume his pretty-far-along prosecution, and can do it in not-very-Trumpy Las Vegas. There is now a very good chance that this will be the first (and maybe only) fake elector case to get before a jury. And because the Nevadans were particularly brazen, and created a paper trail a mile wide, they have very good reason to be nervous. Reportedly, some of them are holding out for a presidential pardon. Who wants to be the one to break the news to them that presidents cannot grant pardons for state crimes? (Z)