Update, 6/21, 4pm: "UPDATE: Toma/Petersen Tell Court: Our "Bell Cannot Be Unrung"; Ask To Stay Their Depositions In Transgender School Sports Case While They Appeal Order"
One day after being ordered to sit for depositions in the case challenging the Legislature's 2022 ban on transgender girls playing school sports on girls teams, House Speaker Ben Toma and Warren Petersen asked for a stay so that they can appeal.
They did not also ask to stay their retaliatory depositions of the young girls they asked to take.*
Toma-Petersen - represented by a Missouri law firm - indicated that they want the stay while they appeal yesterday's decision. They claim that the 9th Circuit will rule in their favor and allow them to maintain legislative privilege in a case where they have intervened. "The Legislative Leaders cannot remedy the harm caused by disclosing the documents and sitting for depositions. The bell cannot be unrung."
The 9th Circuit recently ruled against Toma-Petersen in a similar situation dealing with challenges of 2022 voter registration and registration rolls laws.
* I verified the portion of Judge Jennifer Zipps' ruling that implied that Toma-Petersen's request to depose the minor girl plaintiffs was retaliatory. The Toma-Petersen Response to the Motion to Compel stated simply that "If the Legislative Leaders are deposed, Plaintiffs also should be deposed under the discovery rules and the facts of this case."
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Original article, 6/20: "BREAKING: AZ House Speaker Toma & Senate Pres. Petersen Waived Leg Privilege, Must Sit For Depos In Transgender Sports Case; But, Minor Girls Do, Too"
In a twist this afternoon, a judge issued an Order compelling Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen to sit for depositions in the long-running battle about whether an Arizona law can ban transgender girls from playing school sports on girls teams.
The Speaker and President told the Court that if they were to be deposed, that they would also seek to depose the minor girls who brought the lawsuit against State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne. The Judge agreed to allow the girls to be deposed, with strict limits on what could be asked.
U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps issued the 14-page ruling this afternoon, finding that Toma and Petersen had waived their legislative privilege after they moved to intervene in the lawsuit.
The limits she put on Toma/Petersen in deposing the girls are that (1) they "shall not question minor Plaintiffs about the legitimacy or the appropriateness of the Plaintiffs’ medical and/or mental health treatment; and (2) they "shall not ask the minor Plaintiffs any questions regarding sexual abuse, assault, or misconduct."
The Judge indicated that Toma/Petersen "may reference the minor Plaintiffs’ medical records and/or letters from mental health providers only to the extent that it is necessary to confirm or clarify the record."
Zipps has ruled the 2022 Arizona law unconstitutional and kept it from going into effect. Horne has unsuccessfully appealed the injunction. The 9th Circuit currently is considering an appeal from the America First Legal Foundation, which is also seeking to intervene in the case.
This article was reported by AZ Law founder Paul Weich.
"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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