UPDATE: Supreme Court REJECTS Wordy Briefs In Kari Lake Appeal; No Word On When They'll Consider Lake's Request (READ Orders)

UPDATE, 3/21, 9am: The Court accepted Heath's apology and allowed his instructive brief to be filed.

UPDATE, 3/20, 4:40pm: Young Ryan Heath apologized to the Arizona Supreme Court for missing today's 9am deadline to re-submit his proposed friend of the court brief, "due to the weekend and the fast timetable." His apology ("Notice of Errata"), his more concise filing and the other re-submitted amicus are posted below.

The Court has not yet indicated whether or not it will accept and consider these filings.

UPDATE, 3/20, 4:20pm: The Supreme Court has confirmed to Arizona's Law that it WILL (privately) Conference tomorrow to decide whether or not to hear Kari Lake's Election Contest appeal. 

(It is a "discretionary appeal", NOT an "appeal of right".)

UPDATE, 3/20, 3pm: The Supreme Court did not simply instruct self-described "civil rights activist" Ryan Heath to *shorten* his proposed friend of the court brief by the end of the day today. They also instructed him to tone down his efforts to introduce new facts into the appeal - that is not how the appeals process works.

The rare admonition is that Heath (and his client) must "limit any factual references to evidence that was admitted at trial or testimony at trial."

UPDATE, 3/17, 3:30pm: The Arizona Supreme Court REJECTED offered amicus (friend of the court) briefs from both Ryan Heath (below) and a group calling iteslf "America's Future". Both were much longer than permitted by court rules (which permit a 3,500 word filing).

The Court generously did give them a 2nd chance to follow the rules, extending their deadlines to Monday.

The Court has NOT announced whether it will then (privately) confer about whether or not to accept and decide Lake's appeal the following day. Earlier this month, the Court suggested it would likely conference the case on March 21. Conferences are generally added to the calendar on their website, but this has not been.

(The conference could also be delayed if the court decides to give the defendants/respondents a chance to respond to Lake's Thursday request to file her Reply about chain-of-custody issues (below).

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Original article, 3/16, 8:45pm: "UPDATES: Lake Asks Court For "Short" Extra Filing To Correct Maricopa County's "Factual Misrepresentations" Re: Chain-of-Custody; Heath Re-Files His Schooling, Breaks Rules"

Two quick updates on Kari Lake's Election Contest appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court tonight:

1) Lake is asking the Court for permission to file a "short" Reply in order to correct "Respondents (sic) factual misrepresentations on the chain-of-custody issue". Lake's attorneys note that attorneys for the Secretary of State's Office do not object to the filing of the unscheduled Reply, that Governor Katie Hobbs does object and that Maricopa County did not respond.

Lake's request is likely prompted by the Response filed earlier this week by the County, as that is the one which focused most specifically on what it called "Lake's misleading new factual theory about chain-of-custody documents."

If the County and/or Hobbs is going to object to Lake's proposed Reply filing, they had better file it quickly. The Supreme Court indicated last week that it intended to privately conference on whether or not to consider Lake's appeal of her earlier losses this coming Tuesday. (However, the Court has not yet added it to its public-facing calendar.)

2) Self-proclaimed "civil rights activist" Ryan Heath has asked the Court for permission to file a friend-of-the-court ("amicus") brief to explain why the Court of Appeals misinterpreted previous case law. Heath has been unsuccessful in several previous attempts to place his arguments before the court - including filing his own Special Action petition/appeal with the Supreme Court.

However, in light of the Supreme Court's warning earlier this month that it would carefully review proposed amicus briefs to make sure they followed the guidelines, Heath's proposed brief is more than twice as wordy as permitted by the court's rules. Heath counts 8,422 words in his brief, significantly higher than the 3,500 words permitted.

(Because it is likely very similar to Heath's previous filings *and* because it is probable that the Supreme Court will reject it, Arizona's Law is not publishing it tonight. If you wish to review it prior to the Court's decision, please contact us at Paul.Weich.AZlaw@gmail.com.)

"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc. AZ Law is founded by Phoenix attorney Paul Weich, and joins Arizona's Politics on the internet. 

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