Defendants in a case brought against a group of alternate presidential electors in the state of Arizona are citing a new law to convince the judge to dismiss the case altogether.
According to Politico, the law in question was passed with the intention of preventing prosecutors from bringing cases purely out of political opposition to the defendants, which is what the group of electors claim has been done to them. The defendants include John Eastman, a former legal adviser to President Donald Trump, and the rest of the alternate slate of electors who were prepared to cast their votes for Trump in 2020 due to widespread voter fraud in the state which many believe altered the results of the election.
The case was brought against the group in April of this year by Attorney General Kris Mayes (D-Ariz.). President Trump himself was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator.
At a hearing on Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen seemed open to the defendants’ suggestion to throw the case out under Arizona’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) law. If Judge Cohen determines that the defendants have a claim to being the victims of political persecution, he may order more hearings to review the evidence supporting their claims.
In 2022, the Arizona state legislature expanded the state’s pre-existing anti-SLAPP law, which already largely prevented vindictive civil lawsuits against people who were simply using their First Amendment rights, to include protecting defendants from politically-motivated criminal cases. As such, Arizona has the broadest anti-SLAPP law in the nation.
Prosecutors with the attorney general’s office insisted that the claims of political persecution are wrong, and that they intend to call as many as 80 witnesses if the case is allowed to go to trial, with the goal of proving that the electors committed some sort of crime. If the case is not dismissed, it is expected to begin its trial in January of 2026.
Other defendants in the case include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, legal adviser Boris Epshteyn, and lawyer Christina Bobb, among others. One of the alternate electors has already pleaded guilty, while former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis has turned against her colleagues and has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. All other defendants have pleaded not guilty.
The practice of preparing alternate slates of electors is not unheard of in American politics. Instances of alternate electors include the 1960 election, when a group of alternates were prepared to cast the electoral votes for Hawaii in favor of Richard Nixon, who barely lost the state to John F. Kennedy.