Think Tank takes on legal issues in Arizona with national significance
Jul 9, 2021, 10:45 AM
This week’s Think Tank takes on several recent legal controversies in the news with former United States Attorney for Arizona, Paul Charlton and attorney Tom Ryan.
Electoral interference: Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts has documented a series of communications between Arizona Republican Chair Kelli Ward and Clint Hickman, onetime chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which is the ultimate authority for elections in the county. These would seem to pressure Hickman to delay and/or refuse to certify the 2020 presidential election. That would, on the face of it, appear to be a felony, per ARS 16-1004. Is it? Our crack legal team discusses.
Trump companies indicted: What does it mean to indict a company, rather than an individual, on criminal charges? Donald Trump’s long-term right-hand man Allen Weisselberg was also indicted. There was language in the indictment suggesting that others are implicated. Who might these be (most of the likely suspects have the last name “Trump”)? Will Weisselberg “flip”? What kinds of sanctions seem likely? Trump’s speech in Ohio this week contained what seemed to acknowledge the underlying facts that were the basis of this indictment:
“‘You didn’t pay tax on the car or a company apartment. You used an apartment because you need an apartment because you have to travel too far where your house is. You didn’t pay tax. Or education for your grandchildren. I don’t even know. Do you have to? Does anybody know the answer to that stuff?'” Did he just cut his own throat with statements like these?
Supreme Court rules on voting rights in Arizona: In Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee, the Supreme Court took on the issue of the legality of legal ballots cast in the wrong precinct and the right of citizens to give their ballots to others for delivery to voting places or ballot boxes (something especially consequential in remote Native American reservations. The court’s decision in this case would seem likely to have significant national implications as several hundred laws have been introduced throughout the country, which have the effect of making voting more difficult.
The Think Tank airs on KTAR 92.3 FM on Saturday 6-7 p.m. and Sunday 9-10 p.m.
Podcasts are available after broadcast.
