The Arizona Supreme Court agreed to a new rule that narrows the ability of those not directly involved in legal matters to pursue ethics complaints against lawyers.
The rule gives the state bar discretion to pursue complaints filed by the general public, or dismiss them out of hand.
Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer says the rule was designed to prevent the court’s disciplinary process from being weaponized.
“"When you start having groups of people, or, even potentially in the future, a campaign of like, 'Oh, everybody file something,' and then they have these kind of corresponding rights, but that's problematic, mostly from a standpoint of it's distracting from the Bar doing what it's supposed to do," Timmer said.
Court officials cited 40 election-related complaints filed since the 2020 election. Many of those complaints were against lawyers representing Republicans who were trying to have elections overturned.
David Byers, who runs the administrative office of the court, says many of these complaints appear to have been filed largely for political reasons.
