A Maricopa County judge has soundly rejected Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell’s insistence that she is the only one who can appoint an attorney to represent the Maricopa County Recorder.
In what had been described as an outrageous power grab attempt, Mitchell fought to disqualify attorneys with America First Legal (AFL) for Recorder Justin Heap in an ongoing battle with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors as part of his plan to restore election integrity.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott A. Blaney found:
“… because the County Attorney has not established that she has the exclusive right to represent the County Recorder and/or the exclusive right to decide who the County Recorder may retain as his attorney in litigation, the County Attorney has not established that she has standing in her official capacity to challenge Recorder Heap’s retention of America First Legal as his legal counsel in Heap v. Galvin, et. al. See County Recorder’s Verified Special Action Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief.
(“The County Attorney brings this lawsuit to vindicate her statutory and inherent responsibility and authority as the Recorder’s attorney and to appoint outside counsel for him when a conflict prevents her from personally representing him.”) and (“The County Attorney brings this lawsuit in her official capacity.”).
The judge granted Heap’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings and denied Mitchell’s Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings.
“The County Attorney’s action is dismissed from his case,” concluded the judge.
Heap responded to the ruling on X.com:
Today, the Court issued a decisive ruling in our Election Integrity lawsuit against Maricopa County, entirely dismissing the countersuit filed against our office by County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
This important decision is consistent with the law and firmly establishes a fundamental principle: elected officials have the right to retain legal counsel of their own choosing and cannot be compelled to accept representation selected by the County Attorney.
I am grateful to my attorney, James Rogers, of America First Legal, whose work on this matter has been exemplary.
This ruling marks the first significant victory in our ongoing effort to restore the Recorder’s statutory authority and ensure the honest, trustworthy, and lawful elections that the voters of Maricopa County deserve.
COURT VICTORY — Today, the Court issued a decisive ruling in our Election Integrity lawsuit against Maricopa County, entirely dismissing the countersuit filed against our office by County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
This important decision is consistent with the law and firmly… pic.twitter.com/h0HbEPzNHi
— Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap (@azjustinheap) January 31, 2026
In August, Heap accused the County Board of Supervisors and Mitchell of weaponizing county government against him “simply because he dared to fulfill his statutory duties and protect the sanctity of Arizona elections.
Heap made the accusation while announcing that attorneys with AFL had filed two legal motions on his behalf, which they say exposed “a breathtaking abuse of power by entrenched government officials determined to sabotage election integrity efforts.”
AFL’s motions, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, claimed that the County Board of Supervisors and County Attorney Rachel Mitchell “coordinated retaliation against Recorder Heap that seems to confirm everyone’s worst suspicions about Maricopa County’s elections.”
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Steve Montenegro filed an Amicus Brief in support of Heap.
According to AFL, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors launched what Heap and his attorneys say “appears to be a deliberate sabotage campaign against the Recorder’s office.”
Just before Heap came into office, the Board seized control of the Recorder’s Office servers, databases, and websites. Heap and his lawyers claim that taking control of these items, essential for conducting elections, amounts to “effectively holding the county’s election infrastructure hostage.”
The Recorder also claims that the Board removed nearly all election-related IT staff from the Recorder’s office, which left him “unable to perform basic election duties. On top of this, the County’s IT department has failed to fulfill nearly half of all IT support requests from the Recorder’s Office — crippling election operations.”
Heap also complained that in spite of good-faith attempts to negotiate a resolution, including an offer of mediation, the Board refused to negotiate a reasonable outcome that complies with Arizona law, creating a serious risk of catastrophic election failure and massive voter disenfranchisement.
Heap’s attorneys argued that Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell had an ethical conflict of interest requiring her to remain neutral and stay entirely out of the dispute as this controversy involved a dispute between different elected officials within the County, both of whom are her clients.
Mitchell did not stay neutral, however, and when she assigned an outside attorney to represent Heap in discussions with the Board, she only allowed that attorney to negotiate with the Board but not to file any lawsuits against it.
In other words, argue Heap’s attorneys, the County Attorney tried to “force Recorder Heap to negotiate from a position of weakness, without an attorney who could sue on his behalf. Unsurprisingly, the Board took advantage, continually refusing to deal fairly with the Recorder and obstinately refusing to restore to Recorder Heap the basic resources he needed to do his job.”
AFL attorneys are providing their services for free.
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