Judge dismisses felony charges against Michigan alternate electors; defense attorneys call prosecution ‘lawfare’

A Lansing district court judge dismissed all criminal charges against 16 Republican alternate electors who signed a contingent certificate after the 2020 presidential election, and defense attorneys told the Michigan House Oversight Subcommittee on Weaponization of State Government that the prosecution was a politically motivated use of prosecutorial power.

Kevin Kajewski, an attorney who represented Clifford Frost and a Republican candidate for Michigan attorney general, said on behalf of his client that Judge Kristen Simmons ruled on Sept. 9, 2025, there was "insufficient probable cause to bind [the defendants] over for trial." Kajewski said the certificates signed Dec. 14, 2020, were contingent documents intended to preserve legal options during contested post-election litigation and that the prosecutors failed to prove the intent to defraud required under Michigan forgery statutes.

"This ruling not only vindicated my client, Mr. Frost, but exposed a troubling pattern of political weaponization in our state judicial system," Kajewski told the committee.

Nicholas Somberg, a criminal defense attorney…