The Arizona Supreme Court will soon decide whether to allow the IRC Open Meeting law case to bypass the appellate court. On May 30, the Court will consider Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s petition arguing that they should consider the case because the issue of the applicability of sunshine laws to the IRC is “an important issue of statewide impact.”
Montgomery argued that as a result of both sides filing Summary Judgment requests, the matter is solely legal. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, in which they claimed fundamental facts were undisputed.
Three commissioners who refused to cooperate with the investigation; Herrera, Mathis and McNulty, objected to transferring the case, according to the Yellow Sheet. Their attorneys argued that the transfer was unwarranted.
The claimed that the request fails because there are “no unique timing needs that justify bypassing the Court of Appeals.” The redistricting work is done, the maps have been finalized and “all that remains is litigation.”
They noted the trial court ruled in December that state open meeting laws don’t apply to the IRC, but if they did, there were no reasonable grounds to believe a violation occurred. They claimed that the hiring of Strategic Telemetry was a legislative act thereby making it exempt through legislative immunity.