Political action committee starts website defending how AZ judges are retained

By Greg Hahne
Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services
Published: Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - 2:28pm
Updated: Thursday, May 9, 2024 - 7:23am

Portrait of man next to portrait of woman
Gage Skidmore/CC BY 2.0
Arizona Supreme Court Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn Hackett King.

A political action committee made of a bipartisan group of judges and attorneys is defending the process of how most judges in Arizona are retained. The PAC recently launched a voter education website.

Timothy Berg with Arizonans for an Independent Judiciary said its members are concerned about efforts to not retain Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King. 

An initiative by Progress Arizona aims to oust the pair who joined on last month’s opinion allowing the 1864 near-total abortion ban to be enforceable. 

They were not the only justices to vote that way, but are the only ones up for retention. Voters decide whether to retain judges every 6 years after their appointment

Berg acknowledged politics play a role in picking judges, but argued voters should look at a judge’s qualifications rather than how they rule on an individual case.

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