Arizona AG Kris Mayes to take fake electors case to state Supreme Court

PHOENIX — Arizona’s fake electors case is headed to the state Supreme Court.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes faced a Friday deadline to decide if she would drop the case, present it to a new grand jury or appeal a September ruling from the state Court of Appeals that sent the case back to a grand jury.

She decided to appeal.

“As Arizona’s top law enforcement officer and top prosecutor, it’s my job to uphold the law and protect Arizonans,” Mayes said in a media release. “These defendants were charged based on two things: the facts and the law. We remain squarely focused on ensuring the defendants are held accountable because there is nothing more important than enforcing the rule of law.”

This follows comments she made earlier this month, where she made it clear she did not want to give the case up.

“At the end of the day, we cannot allow anyone, no matter who they are, to undermine the Constitution and to try to overturn an election illegally,” Mayes told 12News. “I don’t think there’s anything more important than standing up for democracy and I think you see that in our actions every day.”

Origins of Arizona’s fake electors case

The fake electors case dates back to Dec. 14, 2020, when a group of 11 Republicans — Kelli Ward, Michael Ward, Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, state Sen. Jake Hoffman, former state Sen. Anthony Kern, James Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Gregory Safsten and Lorraine Pellegrino — met and signed a document stating they were “duly elected and qualified electors” and claimed that President Donald Trump had won the state’s 11 electoral votes in the 2020 election.

However, former President Joe Biden had actually won the state by over 10,000 votes.

The Arizona Republican Party posted a video of the meeting to social media that day.

This was one of seven such meetings held around the country by Republicans in the wake of the 2020 election.

In April 2024, an indictment was issued against the group and seven other prominent Republicans, including Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

All 18 defendants were charged with conspiracy, fraud and forgery at the time and all of them initially pleaded not guilty.

Cases against two of the defendants have since been resolved. In August 2024, attorney Jenna Ellis had her charges dropped after agreeing to work with prosecutors and Pellegrino changed her plea and was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of filing a false document.

Do pardons issued by Trump affect Arizona’s fake electors case?

On Nov. 10, all 18 defendants were among the dozens of people who were issued pardons by Trump.

However, those pardons only apply to federal crimes, meaning they will not affect the case in Arizona.

Related

All 18 people indicted in Arizona's fake electors scheme given pardons by President TrumpMichigan judge tosses criminal charges in fake elector case similar to Arizona'sKris Mayes says Katie Hobbs pay-to-play probe is ‘near the end,’ expects results before electionAndy Biggs, Katie Hobbs to field questions, but not from each other, at public safety policy forumA coin flip could decide this Arizona council race after two candidates tie at 67 votesAndy Biggs explains why he picked Sine Kerr as his running mate in bid for governor’s seat