Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Susanna Pineda, who was appointed to the bench by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano, granted a Motion to Dismiss filed by Arizona election officials in response to Abe Hamadeh’s Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto. She also suggested she would award sanctions against Hamadeh, other plaintiffs, and their attorney. Hamadeh had asked to remove Attorney General Kris Mayes from office and fix the 2022 election problems, including up to redoing it.
Ryan Heath, Hamadeh’s attorney, told The Arizona Sun Times, “I worked in judicial chambers as an intern in law school. Before this ruling, I’d never seen a case where a judge blatantly ignores arguments and allegations in order to impose sanctions. The appeal is already drafted, and I’m looking forward to overturning the trial court’s ruling on appeal.”
In her 13-page opinion filed on April 1, Pineda consolidated responding to another similar lawsuit that was brought requesting a Writ of Quo Warranto by Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby and plaintiff David Mast. Crosby is being prosecuted by Mayes for delaying canvassing of the 2022 election due to irregularities.
Pineda ruled that Crosby and Mast lacked standing in their lawsuit, CV2023-053465. “To the extent they allege that the election procedures in question denied them equal protection due to their votes, as well as the votes of every other Arizona voter, being ‘diluted,’ their claim is general and insufficient to confer standing to bring suit,” she said. Pineda claimed that they hadn’t shown an injury, since they didn’t show or allege that their votes weren’t counted.
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