Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
A series of complaints against more than a dozen Arizona judges by an out-of-state lawyer could change how future election challenges are handled.
Amy Martin contends it was a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct for any of the 16 judges to have participated in — much less rendered a decision — in cases they were assigned dealing with the 2020 and 2022 elections.
In her complaints to the commission, Martin says each of the judges also was on the ballot that same year. She noted that the judges in each case were being asked to decide whether there were sufficient irregularities in the election to void the results of the challenged race.
The fact that each of the judge’s own elections were not contested, Martin argues, is irrelevant. She contends the simple fact that their own names were on the same ballot gives them a vested interest in ruling that the election was properly run.
And that, she said, is the kind of an appearance of impropriety that the code governing the conduct of judges is designed to address.
Martin wants the commission to investigate and punish what she says are the offending judges, though she does not spell out what she believes is the appropriate penalty.
Whether any judge will face any sort of punishment for what already has occurred is questionable at best.
