A Dane County judge has rejected a motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking $2.4 million in damages from a dozen people who participated in an effort to falsely cast Wisconsin’s 2020 electoral votes for Donald Trump.
In doing so, Judge Frank Remington ruled yesterday the 10 electors for Joe Biden met their burden to move forward with the civil suit.
The 12 people are accused of creating a nuisance by meeting in the state Capitol in December 2020 to falsely sign papers claiming to cast Wisconsin’s electoral votes for Trump when Biden had won the state. Those involved have said they took that step to preserve Trump’s legal options as he challenged the results.
The 10 electors and Jim Troupis, one of the attorneys who was involved in the effort, filed motions to dismiss the case on various grounds.
The electors, for example, argued they didn’t intend to wrongfully act because they were following the advice of their attorney. Troupis, meanwhile, argued there was no intent to mislead others as they sought to keep legal options open for Trump.
Remington, though, found that while the targets will have the opportunity to disprove the case at trial, it was reasonable to infer the 10 false electors knew their “actions were wrongful, but then continued anyways.”
Scott Thompson of Law Forward, who filed the suit, said the ruling will allow the true electors to “fully investigate and present our case in court.”
“Our democracy matters. So, we must seek accountability for those who attempt to undermine it,” Thompson said.
State GOP Executive Director Mark Jefferson noted courts must accept facts alleged in a complaint as true when considering a motion to dismiss. He said there was no ill intent and the false electors were “tricked” into becoming an alternate slate. That references a line in the indictment handed down last week that while the effort began as a way to keep Trump’s legal options open, it turned into a “corrupt scheme” to prevent Biden from getting the 270 electoral votes needed for the presidency.
“We were not informed of any use of the alternate electors contrary to preserving the legal strategy and would not have approved any other use,” Jefferson said.
Remington previously scheduled a jury trial for September 2024.
Read the ruling here.
