Arizona Senate Loses Court Battle Over 2020 Probe, Over 1K Messages Deemed Public Record
Arizona's Republican-controlled Senate lost a court battle Thursday as a judge ruled that it couldn't withhold a collection of communications between the legislature's leaders and private contractors hired to probe Maricopa County's 2020 election results, the Associated Press reported. The Senate was previously forced to release tens of thousands of communications that were designated as public record, but it was attempting to safeguard another 1,000 texts and emails.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp said in the ruling that Senate members can't release findings from the investigation without also releasing the information that guided the findings, the AP reported.
"Senate Defendants cannot publicly release numerous public statements about the audit, release a comprehensive report about the audit, and then refuse to disclose documents and communications that are central and integral to the findings and conclusions of that report," Kemp wrote.
The American Oversight watchdog group has repeatedly succeeded in court against the Arizona Senate as it looks to have all probe records made available to the public. The group said that it was protecting the public's right to know both how Cyber Ninjas and other private contractors had carried out the investigation and how it was subsidized.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/arizona-senate-loses-court-battle-over-2020-probe-over-1k-messages-deemed-public-record/ar-AAPA01z
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