Maricopa County Files Response In Kari Lake’s Supreme Court Lawsuit

Arizona’s Maricopa County lawyers filed a reply to Kari Lake, the GOP candidate. She claimed that Lake’s legal team failed to present any new arguments following her rejection by the state Court of Appeals several weeks ago.

“Lake’s Petition utterly fails at fulfilling its limited task,” Maricopa’s lawyers declared. “It does not present any argument illustrating a need for this Court to review the court of appeals’ opinion. It does not identify a single novel legal issue that this Court needs to clarify. And it does not identify any legal precedent that should be overturned or abrogated. Instead, the Petition is almost entirely a regurgitation of petitioner Kari Lake’s failed arguments before the trial court and the court of appeals.”

The Arizona Supreme Court reached an agreement earlier this month to speed up Lake’s election lawsuit hearing and set March 21 as the date for consideration of whether or not it will accept the petition. According to a short order, the court will also decide if it will hear oral argument during that conference.

Lake first filed a lawsuit against a Maricopa County judge. She claimed there were enough Election Day problems to prevent Republicans from voting for her. A two-day trial ended in December and Peter Thompson rejected it. It was rejected by the Court of Appeals two months later. The Court also stated that Lake did not present enough evidence to justify the court’s decision to reopen the election in Maricopa County.

Officials said Lake, endorsed by former President Donald Trump, lost the midterm election to Democrat Katie Hobbs by some 17,000 votes. She wrote on social media after the Supreme Court granted her challenge. “pray for the judges.”

Lake’s lawyers claimed that Maricopa County election officers intentionally caused problems Nov. 8, via vote-tabulation machine delays that led to long lines at several Maricopa voting locations. It was in an effort to quell GOP voters. She also said that Maricopa County officials mixed illegal and legal ballots.

“The evidence and testimony presented at the Arizona Senate Committee on Elections meeting on January 23, 2023, showed more than 7,000 ballots being rejected by vote center tabulators every 30 minutes from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm—totaling over 217,000 rejected ballot insertions on a day with approximately 248,000 votes cast,” Lake’s suit was said.

Lawyers representing Maricopa County rejected Lake’s claims Monday. “Because all of the arguments raised in the petition for review were already thoroughly refuted in both the trial court and court of appeals, this Court should deny the petition,” They wrote.

Previously, Maricopa officials denied the GOP candidate’s claims that there was intentional malfeasance on behalf of county officials on Election Day. Maricopa previously blamed widespread printing problems on ink toner. They claimed it wasn’t dark enough, and some ballots couldn’t be read by machines.

Judge Thompson was told by a county official that 17,000 ballots had ended up in secure ballot boxes throughout the county during December’s trial. There is “no reason to believe” That none of the problems were caused intentionally and that “all the votes get transferred to the duplicated ballot that gets duplicated and tabulated,” Jarrett said.

What’s Next

Lake’s future looks bright regardless of whether or not the Supreme Court accepts her challenge. There has been speculation saying Lake could pursue the U.S. Senate seat during Arizona’s 2024 race—a seat that is currently held by now-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

A straw poll at the Conservative Action Political Conference found that she was number one. Florida Governor was defeated by the No. 1 Republican choice for vice-president. Ron DeSantis was a former South Carolina governor. Nikki Haley. Lake received 20 percent of the vote. Haley got 10 percent. DeSantis gained 14 percent in vice presidential poll.

Lake responded last week by saying that she was still focusing her attention on her legal problems amid speculation about her future political plans. Lake spoke out weeks ago to confirm that she had met with Republican Senate leadership. However, the spokesperson did not disclose any details to news outlets.

“We’re flattered, but unfortunately our legal team says the Constitution won’t allow for her to serve as Governor and VP at the same time,” Lake wrote on one account of her Twitter.