In a significant development on Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed an attempt by Arizona's two most senior state legislators to evade depositions in an ongoing lawsuit alleging two state voting laws to be racially biased.
High-Stake Bid Rejected
Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen, both Republicans, had submitted an emergency plea coaxing the justices to suspend an inferior court's verdict, which required the duo to surrender documents and testify in the case. They contended, however, that acquiescing to such demands would infringe legislative privilege. The justices, devoid of known dissension, turned down the lawmakers' request in a brief Monday directive.
Racially Discriminatory Voting Laws
The Republican-led Legislature in Arizona approved voting bills last year, requiring individuals to provide documentary evidence of citizenship for voting and altered regulations governing when individuals can be removed from voter rolls. Legal objections flowed in from several quarters, including the Justice Department, the Democratic National Committee, and voting factions. Some even labeled the legislation as "voter suppression" bills.
Although both Toma and Petersen voted for the bills, they didn't ascend to their current leadership positions until months later. Earlier in the year, they stepped in the consolidated lawsuit to vouch for the laws.
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Document Request and Deposition Challenges
After their intervention, plaintiffs sought to depose the two lawmakers regarding the Legislature's intent in passing the laws and demanded they produce related documents. Toma and Petersen unsuccessfully tried to thwart this move in the lower courts, asserting that such demands are tantamount to infringement of legislative privilege.
The lawmakers' legal representative, Kevin O'Malley, argued to the justices that the intrusion of a federal court into legislative affairs without legal grounds threatens the separation of powers at the top level of government. He further contended that the district's judgment is unprecedented and could prevent legislators from freely expressing their views during legislative procedures and dissuade current and future legislative leaders from participating in litigation defending the constitutionality of state laws.
Plaintiff's Counter-Argument
The Justice Department did not submit a response to the lawmakers' emergency plea at the Supreme Court. Still, other plaintiffs insisted that Toma and Petersen had voluntarily waived their privilege by joining the suit. Seth Waxman, a previous U.S. solicitor general in the Clinton administration, represented those plaintiffs and argued that when the lawmakers joined the litigation and provided statements about the disputed question of discriminatory intent behind the controversial laws, plaintiffs requested to cross-examine the legislators' stance in discovery, as they had done with other defendants.
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