At this point, it should be obvious to the most dimwitted citizen that the Arizona Governor election is done and dusted. The Democrat Katie Hobbs is sworn in. And she sits in the Governor's office doing whatever Arizona Governors do. Republican Kari Lake, Hobbs’ duly defeated opponent, is not convinced. She has adopted the Trumpian strategy of denial and lawsuits — demanding her immediate installation as the state’s chief executive.
Unfortunately for Lake, the state’s courts are not playing along. The Appeals Court told her to cool her jets. And for the second time, the Supreme Court has asked the conspiracy theorist to bugger off. However, Lake seems to enjoy banging her head against a wall.
Perhaps it is Lake’s strategy to toady her way to a VP nod on the 2024 Trump ticket. If that is the case, then at least she has a reason for her futile bleating. If, on the other hand, she believes in her cause, then her family should intervene and get her the help she needs.
Lake had petitioned the AZ Supreme Court to take up her case because she maintained that the appeals court, where her challenge to the election is currently, would delay her cause for months. As noted in the Court’s rejection of her petition, Lake claimed that,
“In vacating the January 24 oral argument date on which this Court relied in part to deny Lake’s prior petition to transfer, however, the Court of Appeals opened the door to months of potential delay.”
However, the Supreme Court called bullshit on that assertion,
“The Court of Appeals entered an order on January 9, 2023, consolidating the appeal and special action, setting an expedited briefing schedule, and advising that the matter would be conferenced on February 1, 2023.”
In short, the justices politely pointed out that three weeks is not “months of potential delay”. But when you are a conservative, facts are fudgeable. And you believe the judicial calendar is a socialist tool to deny what the voices in your head have told you is your birthright — the Arizona governorship.
I imagine the AZ Supremes must be getting irritated by Lake’s piling on. In her first petition to the Court, she had asked them to ignore the Appeals Court and hear her ravings immediately. In rejecting that petition, the judges wrote on January 4, 2023,
“Appellant Lake filed her Notice of Appeal in the Court of Appeals on December 27, 2022. She filed her Petition for Transfer on December 31, 2022. She separately filed her Petition for Special Action and Appendix in the Court of Appeals on December 30, 2022.”
The “petition for transfer” is her demand that the Appeals Court bow out and transfer her case to the Supreme Court. The rejection of Lake’s petition further says,
“The Court notes that the Court of Appeals has entered a scheduling order directing respondents in the special action proceeding to file a response and has indicated that the matter will be conferenced, with possible oral argument, on January 24, 2023. No good cause appears to transfer the matter to this Court.”
Note: “No good cause” is legalese for “you have to be kidding.”
This response does not look good for Lake. By telling her there is no reason for them to rush anything, the all-Republican-appointed bench is hinting to Lake there is no merit to her case. And as no judge dissented that hint is as broad as a barn door.
The AZ Supreme Court's role in the 2022 gubernatorial election is different than the US Supreme Court deciding the winner of the 2000 presidential election. In Arizona, there is a declared winner. And if the AZ justices thought there was something fishy, the calendar would have been even shorter than it already is. Every day that passes makes it harder to justify overturning the electoral status quo. The reasonable person, therefore, must conclude that there is no evidence to support Lake’s contention.
The previous Governor, Republican Doug Ducey, handed over the reins with no demur. The objections by the state Republican party are nowhere as full-throated as the outcry engendered by the 2020 general election. And the state's elected officials have been relatively quiet on Lake's whining.
Lake still has the lunatic fringe, such as Wendy Rogers, concretely in her corner. But much of the base has moved on to the newest conservative crusade — hating on LGBTQ teens and denying America's historical racism.