As expected, the June 25 oral arguments in the case challenging the constitutionality of the (now-failed) attempt to recall Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have been vacated. (minute entry below)
Once Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Herrod disqualified himself earlier this week and it was reassigned to Judge Lisa Flores, it was expected that the oral argument date before Herrod would have to be re-set to accommodate the new judge's schedule. It also gives either side an opportunity to request that Judge Flores recuse herself - a real possibility given past MCSO activities in her courtroom.
This lawsuit is still active, even after the recall organizers failed to turn in any signatures before the statutorily-imposed deadline of May 30 (120 days after they registered the petition) because plaintiffs argued to the judge at the May 29 status conference that their contention that the recall violated the Arizona Constitution - by not waiting for six months after Arpaio's re-election - still needed to be decided for future recall efforts. They argued that, like the U.S. Supreme Court most famously held in Roe v. Wade, it was an issue that was capable of repetition yet evading judicial review.
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