The Maricopa County Superior Court denied the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors request for further discovery, citing their inappropriate behavior against the county recorder.
This is the latest development in an ongoing lawsuit between the Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap and the board of supervisors over election duties. The board maintained last month that they have a new division of duties which resolves these issues with Heap; however, the recorder disagrees.
The board compelled Heap to give sworn testimony before them last month, weeks after the two engaged in an evidentiary hearing in court. Then, the board asked the court to open up further discovery based on that compelled testimony.
A new ruling issued on Wednesday shot down this request by the board.
Judge Scott Blaney said in his Wednesday ruling that the board acted inappropriately by compelling Heap to testify before them and then attempting to weaponize his testimony in an active court case.
“The Board now seeks to use the Recorder’s compelled, extra-judicial testimony to discredit the in-court testimony of the Recorder and his witnesses,” said Blaney. “But again, the testimony on which the Board now relies was taken in front of the Board — not this Court — based upon questioning by a hostile adverse party, without the protection of the rules of evidence, without a neutral arbiter, and without legal representation by Recorder Heap’s attorney.”
Further on, Blaney described the supervisors as behaving in a hostile and potentially retaliatory manner when they issued their subpoenas against Heap’s staffers.
“The court further finds that the Court’s initial fear — that the Board of Supervisors was using its extra-judicial subpoenas in part to influence these proceedings — was well founded,” said Blaney. “The Court will not allow this gamesmanship to interfere with or jeopardize the integrity of these proceedings. Even if Defendants’ request actually constituted a proper use of the rule (it does not), the Court would still not reward such shenanigans by allowing this extrajudicial “evidence” to taint the record in this case.”
Prior to requiring Heap to testify, the supervisors served three members of Heap’s staff with subpoenas to stand for questioning before the board. Their subpoenas came out within days of staffers giving their court testimonies. Board leadership accused the recorder’s office of giving false testimony and issuing contradictory statements about voter disenfranchisement.
Heap’s characterization of the board subpoenas at the time as “inappropriate” aligned with this most recent ruling from the Maricopa County Superior Court.
Before the board could follow through on their arrangements to question Heap’s staff, Maricopa County Superior Court hit the supervisors with a temporary restraining order.
The board of supervisors pivoted. They decided, instead, to require Heap to provide sworn testimony to them within the week.
In a since-deleted press release from Feb. 11 (available elsewhere, including here), Chair Kate Brophy McGee accused Heap of “lying to the public” and being “unreliable,” “unprofessional,” “untruthful,” and “unaccountable.”
NEW: Statement on Today's Vote To Require Recorder's Sworn Public Testimony pic.twitter.com/ijubue2gkj
— Maricopa County (@maricopacounty) February 12, 2026
Not all supervisors have been on board with the recent actions taken by the board. Supervisor Mark Stewart has repeatedly spoken out against the escalating tactics employed against the recorder’s office.
District 1 did not review or approve this post and does not share its tone.
I respect my colleagues, Recorder Heap, and most importantly our residents, and I believe our public communications should reflect that respect.
We are in active negotiations on the Shared Services…
— Mark Stewart Maricopa County Supervisor District 1 (@MarkStewart_AZ) February 12, 2026
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