The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a Michigan Republican who had signed a document falsely asserting that President Trump won the state in the 2020 election, The Hill first reported on Tuesday.
Clifford James Frost claimed that Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's criminal case against him and 15 other "fake electors" was brought in bad faith and asked the Supreme Court to halt the proceedings.
"The AG brought the Michigan Criminal Prosecution with no reasonable expectation of obtaining valid convictions against the Republican Electors," attorneys for Frost wrote in his petition to the court.
"She [Nessel] did so to retaliate against and/or punish the Republican Electors — all of whom are political opponents of the AG — for their unsuccessful efforts to protest the outcome of the election," they continued.
A Michigan judge dismissed the charges last month against Frost and 14 other defendants, ruling that the state lacked sufficient evidence to prove intent — effectively ending the case unless Nessel decides to appeal.
Nessel said at the time that her office was still "evaluating" whether to appeal. The attorney general's office later waived its right to respond to Frost's petition before the Supreme Court.
State District Judge Kristen Simmons indicated that the defendants were not "savvy or sophisticated enough" to fully grasp the electoral process they were accused of attempting to manipulate to overturn former President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
"This is a fraud case, and we have to prove intent, and I don't believe that there's sufficient evidence to prove intent," Simmons said at the September hearing.
The state had charged the 16 pro-Trump electors in 2023, claiming there was "overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election."
Charges were later dropped against one defendant for cooperating with the prosecution.
The alternate-electors scheme depended on then-Vice President Mike Pence to certify pro-Trump electors in key battleground states instead of the legitimate Electoral College votes cast for Biden. Pence refused to do so on Jan. 6, 2021, the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.