Arizona Senate can’t claim legal privilege to avoid audit document releases

PHOENIX (KYMA, KECY) - A judge has ruled that the Arizona Senate can’t claim legislative privilege to avoid releasing a wide variety of records from the review of the 2020 vote count conducted on behalf of Republican leaders.

The Senate and cyber ninjas have been battling for months over two public records lawsuits, one each filed by the parent of the Arizona Republic and American Oversight, a government watchdog group.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah took a step toward resolving the key issue when he carved out a narrow view of legislative privilege in the case, saying that talk of the senate’s so-called “forensic audit” that don’t relate to the public policy implications is not privileged.

Hannah put his ruling on hold to give the court of appeals and potentially the Arizona Supreme Court time to review the boundaries of legislative privilege. The court of appeals has scheduled a hearing later today on that question in the american oversight case.