Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star 2018
By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services
Rebuffed by the Arizona Supreme Court, more than 100 bar owners are now taking their claims against Gov. Doug Ducey to a trial judge.
In a brief order, Chief Justice Robert Brutinel said the bar owners “did not provide a compelling reason as to why this matter could not be initiated in a lower court.”
Having the case go to a trial court, Brutinel said, will flesh out the allegations by the bar owners that the governor’s action shutting them down violated their constitutional rights and denied them due process.
In some ways the ruling is not a surprise. It is highly unusual for the state’s high court to consider any issue that has not already been through the normal trial process.
