Statehouse One-Acts: By the Time I Get to Arizona
the real Public Enem[ies] are serving in the legislature
As an erudite consumer of this missive, you may have heard the good news out of Arizona this week:
The Arizona House voted to repeal the 1864 abortion ban!
… ya know, that Civil War-era law that the GOP-controlled state Supreme Court decided was still enforceable a couple of weeks ago?
After not having enough GOP defectors (Rs have a two-seat majority in the chamber, just one crossed the aisle) to move the repeal forward just last week, three Republicans voted with House Democrats on Wednesday to repeal the abortion ban (final vote: 32-28).
GOP Speaker Ben Toma was Big Mad.
“I don’t know what just happened here,” he’s reported to have said just after the vote. “I’m done.”
Also just after the vote, Toma booted one of the defectors (Rep. Matt Gress) off of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.
You may recall from last week’s TWISA that two Senate Republicans already crossed the aisle to repeal the abortion ban (which is enough, since Republicans also have just a two-seat majority in this chamber, too), so this repeal of the 1864 total abortion ban could become a reality as soon as next week (Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs will certainly sign it).
But.
Arizona still has a 15-week abortion ban on the books.
And reproductive rights supporters are still working to get a measure on the ballot this fall that would guarantee Arizonans the right to an abortion up to “fetal viability” (generally around 24 weeks) with exceptions for later procedures medically necessary to protect the life or physical and mental health of the patient.
And GOP lawmakers are still trying to ratfuck that process.
Remember, it wasn’t even two weeks ago that Arizona House Republicans had a private video strategy call – the presentation portion of which was accidentally shared with Dems as well as Rs – where they discussed several “alternative” abortion proposals to send to the ballot this fall that range from one that would place increased restrictions on the procedure to others that would enshrine either six or 15-week abortion bans in the state constitution (the current 15-week ban is merely a statute).
The voter-led pro-abortion initiative that Republicans are so worried about has been dubbed the Arizona Abortion Access Act.
Republicans are considering various creative names for their anti-abortion proposals, including “Protecting Pregnant Women and Safe Abortions Act,” “Arizona Abortion and Reproductive Care Act,” or “Arizona Abortion Protection Act.”
love too intentionally confuse voters
With such slim majorities in each chamber and a couple of above-mentioned pro-reproductive rights defectors making themselves known this week, it’s not clear that Republicans will even be able to send any of their ratfucking measures to the ballot.
But if the statehouse GOP has the votes, Gov. Hobbs can’t do a damn thing to block it.
While the real pro-abortion ballot measure is isn’t 100% ballot-bound just yet (but it’s looking really, really good for it), something we do know Arizonans will be voting on this fall: whether or not to “retain” two of the four state Supreme Court justices who ruled that the 1864 abortion ban could be enforced.
Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn Hackett King won’t have actual opponents; “retention” elections are basically notes passed to voters saying “Do you like me?” with “yes/no” boxes.
If enough voters check “no,” the judge/justice is booted from the bench, and the governor will appoint a replacement.
Fun fact! Since Arizona adopted the practice of judicial retention in 1974, just six judges have been ousted this way – none of them at the Supreme Court level.
Progressive activists are already gearing up to fight these justices’ retention.
But they may face an additional obstacle that could render voters’ rejection of Bolick and Hackett King completely moot.
Republicans in Arizona’s legislature have been moving a measure forward over the past couple of months that would retroactively nullify the results of November’s judicial retention elections.
… yes, you read that right.
Here’s what’s up:
In early March, Arizona's Republican-controlled state Senate voted along party lines to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall that would effectively eliminate retention elections for judgeships, absent some impeachable offense.
Instead of requiring retention elections at regular intervals (currently six years for state Supreme Court justices), they would be triggered only if a judge fails to demonstrate "good behavior"— established in the measure as a pretty doggone high threshold that includes felony or fraud convictions and obvious financial conflicts of interest in cases over which they preside.
If they manage to stay on the good side of ”good behavior,” state judges (not just Supreme Court justices, by the by) would essentially have lifetime tenures on the bench until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70.
If the Republican majority in the state House also approves this proposal, it’ll go before voters in November.
Arizona ballots are shaping up to be a real shitshow this fall
So yeah, that’s all pretty bad.
But that’s before we get to the retroactivity clause.
If passed on Nov. 5, 2024, the amendment would retroactively take effect on Oct. 31, 2024, and “the returns of any votes of retention or rejection in the general election held on November 5, 2024” would be specifically nullified.
So if Arizona voters reject the retention of those two justices on Nov. 5 but this amendment passes on the same day, it’ll be like the retention vote never happened.
And the conservative state Supreme Court – which former GOP Gov. Doug Ducey expanded from five justices to seven in 2016 just so he could pack it – would be permanently insulated from meaningful accountability.
Just a couple more notes on recent goings-on in The Copper State before I leave you:
Here’s one for the Telling On Themselves file.
Republican state Rep. Austin Smith is Kind of a Big Deal in conservative circles in Arizona.
He’s not only a member of the state’s far-right Freedom Caucus, but he’s also a top official at Turning Point Action (here’s more about Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk, if you’re unfamiliar).
Smith is also a member of the House Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee, where he’s used his position to repeatedly attempt to sow doubt about the results of the 2020 election.
Welp, it turns out that the election fraud was coming from inside the house, so to speak.
Smith was recently accused of personally forging over 100 petition signatures to qualify for the 2024 ballot, raising the possibility of criminal charges and five years of ineligibility for elected office.
Smith has officially dropped out of his own reelection contest, but he’s ignored calls to resign.
And finally, you likely heard about the 18 grand jury indictments of folks involved in the fake Arizona electors scheme stemming from Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election.
Only 11 of those names have been publicly released – those of the fake electors themselves.
Two of them are sitting Arizona state senators who have spent the years since that election continuing to spread the bullshit claim that it was stolen from Trump.
Sens. Jake Hoffman and Anthony Kern – leader and member of the Arizona Freedom Caucus, respectively – are both running for reelection this fall.
As ever, thanks for hanging in, and stay rad!