A judge in Arizona’s Maricopa County Superior Court on Wednesday (Dec. 23) dismissed a lawsuit filed by state Senate Republican leaders seeking access to voting equipment and materials from the county’s election process before Congress could count electoral votes.
On Monday (Dec. 21), Arizona Senate President Karen Fann and state Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Eddie Farnsworth filed the lawsuit. They are asking Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Randall Warner to order the county to enforce two subpoenas for election materials by Dec. 29, citing residents’ concerns that their votes are not being counted correctly.
In Wednesday’s ruling, Judge Warner dismissed the case, saying a court order compelling government officials to perform their duties was not an “appropriate remedy” to enforce the legislature’s subpoenas.
Although the recipients of the subpoenas are government officials, in this case they are the ones against whom the subpoenas are directed, and their obligation to enforce comes from the subpoenas, not from their offices,” Werner wrote. There is no basis in Arizona law for treating subpoena obligations differently in the capacity of public officials.”
Werner also noted that the state’s Senate leaders should first utilize the legislature’s own subpoena enforcement mechanism. Arizona law authorizes the Senate, he noted, to pass a resolution holding the subject of a (non-enforced) subpoena in contempt of court, a second-degree misdemeanor. Armed police officers could then arrest the subpoenaed witnesses and bring them to the legislature.
The Arizona legislature has not passed any such resolution and is not currently in session for that purpose.
Beyond that, Werner suggested that the Senate could refile a lawsuit on a “more plausible ground” under an appropriate law that enforces the issuance of subpoenas against public officials.
The official tally in Maricopa County shows Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leading President Trump with 45,109 votes. The results were unanimously certified by the Republican-majority County Board of Supervisors. In Arizona, Biden led Trump by 10,457 votes.
Under the Arizona Senate Republicans’ plan, they will decide whether to certify or reject the Electoral College vote against Joe Biden based on the results of the subpoena. The Electoral College votes have been forwarded to the U.S. Congress. Congress will begin counting the votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
In a separate brief, Alexander Kolodin, an attorney representing the 11 Republicans, wrote: “The Republican electors want to investigate whether they were improperly denied their status as bona fide electors of Arizona.” The 11 Republican electors will elect Trump. Collodin also asked Judge Warner to enforce the subpoena.
The only way to protect that interest of electors, Collodin added, is to “help ensure that the state legislature has all the information it needs to be able to conduct a full investigation.”
Recent Comments