Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court gave Republican Kari Lake’s counsel a swat on the wrist and demanded that one of Lake’s core concerns finally receive attention.
The good news-bad news ruling was part of Lake’s effort to demonstrate that misconduct affected the 2022 Arizona governor’s election to the extent that Democrat Katie Hobbs’ victory over Lake should be overturned.
Although Lake has lost the majority of her court appeals, in March the Arizona Supreme Court ordered a lower court to conduct a hearing on her claim that Maricopa County did not follow its signature verification procedure during the 2022 election.
This has not occurred yet, but it will now.
According to Just the News, the court issued an order on Thursday mandating that the trial court “immediately conduct any proceedings necessary to resolve” the allegations regarding signature verification.
Here's the latest on our court case!
"AZ Supreme Court orders hearing on Kari Lake's signature verification issue, denies attorney fees."https://t.co/lNMWgQp11P
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) May 5, 2023
In an attempt to get to the heart of the ruling, Rasmussen Reports tweeted, “Apparently upwards of 300,000 mail ballots in Maricopa County Arizona will now be checked for missing or mismatched signature issues in a race that has captured international attention and is divided by less than 15,000 ‘votes.’”
Update: Apparently upwards of 300,000 mail ballots in Maricopa County Arizona will now be checked for missing or mismatched signature issues in a race that has captured international attention and is divided by less than 15,000 'votes.'
Waiting to see the actual court order. https://t.co/SSQqhNtScO
— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) May 4, 2023
Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court denied a request from Lake’s defendants for reimbursement of attorney’s fees.
According to Newsweek, the court reprimanded Lake and her legal team for their choice of language and fined them $2,000 for their actions.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
35,563 ballots she had claimed were added to Maricopa County’s total votes cast. Lake had framed her contention as an “undisputed fact.”
Arizona Chief Justice Robert Brutinel said on Thursday that the claim cannot be proven, and Lake’s lawyers were in the wrong for violating state and court conduct rules that bar false statements. CONTINUE READING…