Judge says he’ll consider Arizona fake electors’ free speech defense
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Two of Arizona’s “fake electors” won a victory in a courtroom Monday morning when a judge allowed their attempt to dismiss their criminal charges under an Arizona law designed to prevent political prosecutions to move forward.
Former state lawmaker Anthony Kern and Mark Meadows, who was Donald Trump’s chief of staff in 2020, are trying to block the criminal case against them from proceeding by claiming that the prosecution violates Arizona’s anti-strategic law against public participation law, or anti-SLAPP law.
Two of the 16 people charged in the case, which alleges fraud and other felonies for signing and submitting a document falsely claiming President Donald Trump defeated former President Joe Biden in Arizona’s 2020 presidential election, have pleaded guilty. The other 14 have claimed that signing and certifying of a document assigning Arizona’s 11 electoral votes to Trump, even though he didn’t win the election, was an expression of their First Amendment freedoms to petition the government.
On Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers ruled that the defendants had met their initial burden to convince him that the motion to dismiss should be considered. He emphasized that he had not ruled on whether the case should be dismissed, and that the AG’s Office would now have the ability to explain why the charges are justified.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her prosecutors would appeal Myers’ ruling.
“We disagree with this ruling, and we will pursue an appeal,” Mayes said in a statement. “It is not the lawful exercise of free speech to file forged slates of electors to deprive Arizona voters of their right to vote.”
In 2022, state lawmakers expanded Arizona’s anti-SLAPP law from civil cases to also include criminal prosecutions. At the time, cases across the country began to take shape going after those who participated in the scheme, which sought to overturn Biden’s election win.
Anti-SLAPP laws are generally seen as a way to prevent civil actions that aim to silence legitimate free speech.
Kern took to X to celebrate the ruling saying it was “Good news for Arizona!”
The case has been anticipated to head to trial by January 2026. Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and local GOP activist Lorraine Pellegrino pleaded guilty.
Mayes’ case is currently one of only a handful of cases still ongoing, as other cases have been dropped after the election of Trump in November.
The 11 fake electors indicted in the Arizona case are:
- Kelli Ward, former AZGOP chairman
- Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, leader of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
- Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern, member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus
- Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point USA CEO
- Michael Ward, husband of Kelli Ward
- Nancy Cottle, a Republican who’s been active in local politics for a decade
- James Lamon, a failed 2022 U.S. Senate candidate
- Robert Montgomery, former chairman of the Cochise County Republican Committee
- Samuel Moorhead, former chairman of Gila County Republican Party
- Lorraine Pellegrino, former president of the Ahwatukee Republican Women
- Gregory Safsten, former executive director of the AZGOP
Former Trump staffers and campaign members also indicted in the case are:
- Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for Trump and one of the main points of contact for the Trump campaign as it sought to overturn the 2020 election and ensure Trump would serve a second term
- Mark Meadows, who was Trump’s chief of staff in 2020
- Christina Bobb, the Republican National Committee’s senior counsel for election integrity and a former attorney for the Trump campaign who was accused in the indictment of making “false claims of widespread election fraud in Arizona and in six other states.”
- John Eastman, a former Trump lawyer who was disbarred in California for his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
- Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump aide who is still one of the former president’s advisors.
- Jenna Ellis, a former attorney for the Trump campaign and a conservative media personality who was censured last year for making false statements about the 2020 election, and who pleaded guilty in October to a felony charge in Georgia for her attempts to overturn the election results.
- Michael Roman, a former Trump campaign aide who was also indicted in the Georgia case.
Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.
