Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs removes a mask as she speaks to members of Arizona’s Electoral College prior to them casting their votes in Phoenix, Ariz., on Dec. 14, 2020. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo)
June 28, 2021
Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature moved to strip power from Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in election-related lawsuits, handing that power instead to the attorney general’s office.
The measure, which was contained within a budget reconciliation bill (pdf), seeks to stop Hobbs, a Democrat, from playing a role in lawsuits related to state election rules while giving the attorney general’s office “sole authority” to defend Arizona election laws. The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Doug Ducey, who hasn’t signaled opposition to it.
The bill’s language regarding curtailing Hobbs’s power is “necessary to ensure the faithful defense of the State’s election integrity laws and to eliminate confusion created by the Secretary of State about who speaks for Arizona in court,” Katie Conner, spokeswoman for Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich, told the Arizona Mirror. His office also accused Hobbs of filing “politically motivated bar complaints against” his office’s lawyers to “target their professional standing and reputation.”
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