Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick reacted defiantly to an ethics complaint filed against him by the progressive group Save our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ). “Bring it on!” he said in a statement issued to the press in response. SOSAZ alleged some remarks Bolick made during a speech to a Republican club crossed into politics.
Bolick and another conservative Arizona Supreme Court Justice, Kathryn King, are up for reelection in 2024 and progressives are targeting them for over their vote upholding Arizona’s old abortion law, which has since been repealed.
SOSAZ cited an article in Politico which quoted Bolick’s remarks to the Sun City West Republican Club in early October. He said their ruling on abortion was only “a convenient excuse to try to get people on the left riled up and replace us with judges who will rubber stamp their ideological agenda.” He said he would continue “fighting for conservative principles,” and brought up his work for the Goldwater Institute and the Reagan Justice Department, and mentioned that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is a mentor and his child’s godfather.
The group said in a press release, “SOSAZ’s written complaint asserts that Justice Bolick’s active campaigning at a Republican Party event violates several provisions of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct, which states that judges ‘should aspire at all times to conduct that ensures the greatest possible public confidence in their independence, impartiality, integrity, and competence.’ Justice Bolick’s appearance and comments at this Republican Party meeting certainly do not meet this standard, and we should expect better of our judges, especially those sitting on the state’s highest court.”
That language is contained in the preamble of the Arizona Code of Judicial Conduct.
Bolick, who once worked as the vice president of litigation for the Goldwater Institute and who is known as an intellectual heavyweight on the court, sent The Arizona Sun Times a lengthy statement, posted below, in response to the complaint. In it, he said he will be standing up for the free speech rights of judges, and declared, “Bring it on.”
Bolick added the “executive director, Beth Lewis, tweeted that her vote against me was ‘personal,’ ‘gleeful anger,’ and revenge.’” The justice said those reasons for filing a complaint are an “abuse of process.”
He noted that he does not endorse candidates nor discuss pending cases. Nor does his wife, State Representative Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix).
A search of Arizona case law reveals that almost no judges have ever been disciplined over politics. Longstanding case law is very specific regarding which political activities judges are prohibited from engaging in. They include speaking on the merits of ballot initiatives, encouraging passage of a tax increase, and opposing a bond increase. Judges are given wide latitude to discuss issues directly affecting judges.
