Arizona AG Won’t Appeal Ruling That Her Office Violated Public Records Law

Overview

• The Attorney General’s Office said it will not seek further review and will give the trial judge and Judicial Watch a more detailed list of the records it withheld.
• The appeals court found the office broke the law by using a privilege index that grouped 50 withheld emails into two vague entries with no dates, senders, recipients, or descriptions.
• The judges said the office did not justify blacking out attorneys’ names in a released document, noting that lawyer names usually are not protected by privilege.
• The court rejected the office’s decision to search only for records from 2023 onward instead of back to 2020 as requested, ruling that agencies cannot rewrite clear requests.
• Judicial Watch’s records request targeted contacts with the States United Democracy Fund and a predecessor group, and the case now returns to the trial court for fact-finding that could lead to more disclosures.