Attorneys for Republican state legislative leaders want to keep challenges from blocking their newly passed initiative restrictions before it goes into effect on Aug. 9.
In a hearing next month, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge will decide whether the legislators’ "strict" requirements on voter proposed initiatives is oppressive and violates the public’s constitutional rights.
Attorney David Cantelme, who defends the lawmakers’ restrictions, said the judge should dismiss the case because the constitution requires challengers show a “discrete and palpable injury.”
Because there are no petitions currently circulating, an argument of injury at this point is simply “hearsay or speculation,” he said.
“They lack personal knowledge to testify to such fanciful injuries," Cantalme said.
That’s a weak argument for challenging attorney Roopali Desai who has represented citizens and nonprofit organizations in the past.
“I'm a citizen. I have a right to run an initiative under the constitution,” she said.
Desai pointed out the plaintiffs are not just citizens, they also include nonprofit organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the Sierra Club and the Arizona School Boards Association. All agencies she and other attorneys have helped to place initiatives on prior ballots.
From that perspective, she argues, the injury is not speculative.
“I have a reasonable belief it's going to be harder based on my experience. And, my right to participate in an initiative is being curtailed by this legislation. Therefore, I've been harmed.”
Desai made her own speculation warning that the new restrictions will undermine fund raising efforts if donors worry about the number of signatures needed and there is a high risk that technical errors will bar the initiative from the ballot.
