Nomination petition challenges rarely – if, ever – result in sanctions or attorneys’ fees awards. Kari Lake attorney Bryan Blehm decided to expand into these lawsuits this year, and today got sanctioned for basing the lawsuit on a non-existent residency clause in the Arizona Constitution.

Butler is running for the House in Legislative District 4. Busch/Blehm contended the Constitution required her to have lived in that district for at least one year. However, the requirement (in statute) is that she needs to have lived in Maricopa County for at least one year. (She has.)Superior Court Judge Danielle Viola order Blehm…
Continue Reading Blehm BREAKING Fresh Ground; Gets Sanctioned In a Legislative Petition Challenge Case (READ Minute Entry)

(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.)In addition to the 11 Republicans who were initially legitimately serving as Arizona’s Trump slate of electors, the Attorney General has charged seven other individuals. Those people’s names will be released once they are all served. (The only thing we currently know of the 7 yet-unnamed defendants are that 5 of them identify as male and 2 as female.)Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett-Sanchez has reported that the 7 are “former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Christina Bobb, top campaign…
Continue Reading BREAKING: Arizona AG CHARGES "Fake Electors" With Felonies For 2020 Actions

The Gina Swoboda-led Arizona Republican Party today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to accept Kari Lake and Mark Finchem’s appeal to revive their effort to ban electronic voting machines from Arizona elections this year.The amicus (“friend of the court”) brief was co-filed by the AZGOP and the state GOPs from Georgia and Delaware. It reshuffles the arguments already made by Lake/Finchem in their Petition (and the wrongly-designated Motion to Expedite), arguing that the lower courts in this and other election cases are inappropriately disposing of cases by ruling that the parties do not have standing.

The new brief even…
Continue Reading BREAKING: AZGOP Asks U.S. Supreme Court To Accept Kari Lake/Mark Finchem Appeal; Repeats Attacks On Dominion Voting Machines (READ Amicus)

The Arizona Court of Appeals today DENIED Abe Hamadeh’s Election Contest appeal. In a 2-1 decision, the judges found that the Mohave County Superior Court did not err in his (delayed) rulings.

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Continue Reading UPDATE: Appeals Court DENIES Hamadeh's 2022 Election Contest Appeal (READ Opinion)

The Arizona Supreme Court has confirmed that it will hand down its long-awaited decision on whether Arizonans are now subjected to the Civil War-era anti-abortion law. The Opinion will be released at 10am on Tuesday.After the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v Wade two years ago, Arizona’s battle over the 1864 law that mandates a 2-year minimum sentence for any abortion provider (with exceptions for life of the mother) took shape.Arizona’s pre-Roe injunction was lifted by a Pima County trial court judge in September 2022. However, the Court of Appeals reversed it in December 2022, stating that it must now…
Continue Reading COMING SOON: AZ Supreme Court To Hand Down Opinion On Civil War-Era Anti-Abortion Law TOMORROW

Abe Hamadeh, Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby, David Mast and their counsel (Ryan Heath) are all on the hook for sanctions in a couple of cases dismissed this morning attacking Maricopa County’s handling of the 2022 elections. (This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.)
“AZ Law” includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona’s Politics on the internet. 

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Continue Reading BREAKING, SANCTIONS SCOREBOARD UPDATE: Judge DISMISSES Hamadeh/Crosby Cases, Ready To Award Sanctions

Kari Lake’s almost-forgotten Election Contest appeal is – as simple minds would put it – alive and kickin’. More than four months ago (Nov. 14, 2023), briefing was completed. Neither side requested oral argument, and the appeal was deemed “submitted” (for decision) on November 27.

This past week, Division 2 of the Court of Appeals – the Tucson-based division that Lake fought a transfer to – decided to ask the attorneys to come in for short oral arguments on May 2. They did not present counsel with any issues that they would like to see addressed.Lake appealed the judgment against…
Continue Reading BREAKING: Kari Lake's *2022 Election Contest* Appeal Pops Back Onto Calendar For Oral Arguments; What's It Mean? (NEWS ANALYSIS)

Kari Lake has defaulted in the defamation suit brought by Maricopa County Recorder. Her attorneys’ oops is not fatal to her defense, and it follows the swift rejections of her appeals to the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court.Richer’s attorneys appropriately entered the default last week after the Supreme Court’s rejection (earlier this month). By Arizona’s court rules, the default does not become effective if Lake files an Answer within two weeks. (Her new deadline is March 25.)Judge Jay Adleman issued a Minute Entry today, noting that it would be up to Superior Court Commissioners to proceed with the…
Continue Reading BREAKING OOPS: After Supreme Court Rejection, Kari Lake Defaults To Stephen Richer In Defamation Suit (Arizona's Law Shorts)

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne used his office to pump up a new private lawsuit attacking dual language instruction shortly after his taxpayer-funded attack failed. The new action was filed by his wife on behalf of a woman whose son is not in the sued Creighton School District.The suit is well-covered in other media reports. Here is the full, unredacted Complaint with exhibits.The case has been assigned to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Melissa Julian.

“AZ Law” includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate …
Continue Reading AZ Public Schools Supt Horne Tags Wife; New Complaint Attacks Dual Language Instruction After State Suit Fails (ARIZONA'S LAW SHORTS)

 UPDATE, 3/14/24: “BREAKING: Kari Lake Goes To the (U.S.) Supreme Court, Brings New/Not New Allegations To Outlaw Voting Machines (READ Petition)”Kari Lake and Mark Finchem told the U.S. Supreme Court today that they have uncovered new evidence of unlawful conduct in past Maricopa County elections, and that the Justices should therefore find that they had standing to file their 2022 suit to ban electronic voting machines.While not repeating the claims they made in the lower courts that Arizona does not use paper ballots, Lake/Finchem attorneys Kurt Olsen and Larry Joseph do claim to have recently discovered that Maricopa…
Continue Reading BREAKING: Kari Lake Goes To the (U.S.) Supreme Court, Brings New/Not New Allegations To Outlaw Voting Machines (READ Petition)

The Arizona Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning on the grandaddy of all elections-related sanctions cases, and the Republican-appointed justices seemed skeptical of the AZGOP’s post-2020 lawsuit that prompted the sanctions.The arguments were heard on the road, at ASU’s College of Law.

Representing the AZGOP, attorney Dennis Wilenchik echoed earlier arguments that the sanctions for a bad faith filing were only based upon “the political motivation”. Jack Wilenchik had warned the Superior Court judge that he would was in “dangerous First Amendment territory into which the Court should not dream of treading”.Judge John Hannah accused Wilenchik and the AZGOP…
Continue Reading UPDATE: AZ Supreme Court Hears Arguments On Grandaddy of All Elections Sanctions Cases; Near Finality On AZGOP's 2020 Case

Arizonans in bankruptcy who received refundable tax credits can breathe a bit easier today, after a divided Arizona Supreme Court ruling on the unfortunate sequencing of a 2022 law and the citizens’ initiative restricting “predatory debt collection”. However, dissenting Justices fret that the result may usher in an era of the Legislature preemptively amending future citizens’ initiatives.The 4-3 majority determined that Prop. 209 – the “Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act” that passed overwhelmingly – did NOT delete the portion of the exemptions statute that protected certain tax credits (e.g. earned income tax credits and child tax credits). Why the confusion?
Continue Reading BREAKING: AZ Supreme Court Splits 4-3 On Odd Statutory Conflict Resulting From 2022's Prop. 209 (Predatory Debt Collection Protection Act)

Who will be play the role of the Cyber Ninjas in the new release of “Arizona Election Audit 2024”? That is probably the least important of the many questions that Arizona lawmakers Wendy Rogers and Alex Kolodin have prompted with their new announcement of a “Memorandum of Understanding” with Runbeck Election Services.

The press release coming from the Legislature touts their agreement as a “significant achievement” and attaches a one page MOU (without a signature page). It is reproduced below. Runbeck is a private company that contracts with Maricopa County, most of Arizona’s other counties and elections departments throughout the country…
Continue Reading Lawmakers Kolodin and Rogers Getting Early Start On "Arizona Election Audit 2024"? We Have Questions (NEWS ANALYSIS, Read Memorandum of Understanding)`