Attorney General Mayes and Secretary Fontes Win Court Fight to Protect Arizona’s Merit-Based Judicial Retention System

PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes today issued the following statement after the Arizona Supreme Court rejected arguments by the Goldwater Institute seeking to strike down Arizona’s system for retaining Court of Appeals judges:

“Today’s decision is a victory for Arizona voters and for the independence of our courts. The Goldwater Institute attempted to weaken and upend a system that Arizona voters adopted to promote fair, merit-selected judges and ensure that Arizonans have access to impartial justice. The Arizona Supreme Court rightly rejected that effort. The Court’s ruling also protects the voice of rural voters in retention elections, rather than letting them be eroded in a statewide vote.

“Our offices will always defend the Arizona Constitution and our voter-approved merit selection and retention system against attempts to undermine it. With this ruling, Arizonans can continue to have confidence that judges are selected based on their qualifications and held accountable through retention elections in a way that honors the will of the voters and our state constitution.”

In a unanimous opinion issued today in Knight v. Fontes, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld A.R.S. § 12-120.02 and affirmed the dismissal of the Goldwater-backed challenge to the state’s Court of Appeals retention election framework. A copy of the decision is available here.