'Alternate' Trump electors can face civil lawsuit in Wisconsin, judge rules

Ten so-called "alternate electors" for former President Donald Trump and two of the former president's attorneys are facing a civil lawsuit in Wisconsin after a judge rejected a motion to dismiss the case.

Two Democratic electors and a voter filed the case seeking $2.4 million from the two attorneys and the alternate GOP electors, arguing that the defendants were part of a pro-Trump conspiracy to overturn his 2020 presidential loss and seeking to disqualify the Republicans from serving as electors again.

Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington scheduled the case for a jury trial in September 2024, just two months before the presidential election in which Trump may be the Republican nominee, The Associated Press reported last week.

Federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment against Trump earlier this month that the former president and his supporters started a scheme in Wisconsin to tap fake electors who could vote for Trump in the electoral college in states where the popular vote went for now-President Joe Biden.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, said he is relying on federal officials to probe what happened in his state, but he is not ruling out a state investigation.

Wisconsin Republican Party Executive Director Mark Jefferson said he is confident the civil lawsuit will "come up short."

"Our democracy matters," said Scott Thompson, one of the attorneys who brought the lawsuit. "So, we must seek accountability for those who attempt to undermine it."

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