2 Supreme Court justices won't hear challenge to judicial retention ballot measure

Two Arizona State Supreme Court justices up for retention this year have recused themselves from a lawsuit challenging a legislative ballot referral that would end most judicial retention elections in Arizona.

Progress Arizona is suing to prevent Senate Concurrent Resolution 1044 from appearing on the ballot.

The group alleged SCR 1044 was unconstitutional because it bore a deceptive title and contained more than a single amendment to the state constitution.

The measure states that only judges who have been convicted of a felony, have declared bankruptcy or have been found not to have followed judicial standards should stand for retention.  Currently, judges on the state Supreme Court and the state Court of Appeals are subject to retention, as well as Superior Court judges in Maricopa and Pima counties. In Arizona's rural counties, judges are elected.

Last week, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper ruled against the plaintiffs, finding that the component parts of SCR 1044 related to a single topic and that the measure did not violate the separate amendment rule of the Arizona Constitution. Napper also found that the title — Judicial Accountability Act — was not misleading.

Napper was assigned to the case by Judge Joseph Welty, presiding judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court, because Yavapai county judges were elected and therefore not subject to the retention election process the ballot referral seeks to change.

Attorneys for Progress Now then appealed the ruling the Arizona State Supreme Court. On Monday, the court announced a briefing schedule for the appeal, noting that Justices Clint Bolick and Kathryn King would recuse from the appeal.

Bolick and King, who ruled the 1864 territorial ban on abortions could be enforced, both will be on the ballot in November.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bolick, King recuse from suit over judicial retention ballot measure