GLORIA REBECCA GOMEZ
Arizona Mirror
Republican Tom Horne’s ongoing push to restrict which school sports teams transgender girls can join was dealt another blow last week, after a Tucson judge denied his request to convene a jury.
The public schools chief petitioned federal Judge Jennifer Zipps to greenlight a jury for the case, arguing that everyday Arizonans wouldn’t make the same mistake she did when she ruled to temporarily block a 2022 law barring trans girls from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity.
“An advisory jury will be crucial to provide the Court with a sense of how the effected (sic) community of Arizonans would determine the hotly–contested factual issues that will determine the outcome,” Horne wrote.
But Zipps ultimately determined that the case doesn’t merit review by a jury because she is able to consider on her own whether the law is constitutional.
“The Court is capable of evaluating expert medical testimony and, under the circumstances of this case, would not likely benefit from the use of an advisory jury of citizens,” she wrote in her order.
