County attorneys are contemplating subsequent steps, together with the
chance of a lawsuit in opposition to Gov. Katie Hobbs, after she rejected
their request to rescind an govt order that places the choice to
prosecute abortion instances within the fingers of the legal professional common’s workplace.

Eleven of the state’s 15 county attorneys joined Maricopa County
Lawyer Rachel Mitchell in a letter final week that instructed Hobbs her June
22 govt order is a “sweeping try” to upend the duties and discretion that particular person county attorneys have in prison prosecutions.

“This isn’t about abortion, it’s about, principally, the lanes of
energy,” mentioned Cochise County Lawyer Brian McIntyre, one of many 12
attorneys on the letter. “And the issue is, if this governor will get away
with it, if you’ll, then who’s to say what the subsequent … step could be.”

Mitchell’s letter
mentioned the order units a harmful precedent due to the facility it offers
any future governor to grant to an legal professional common. The letter known as
it “a considerable overreach to recommend the governor might strip away
prosecutorial discretion from native, elected officers.”

However Hobbs disagreed.

In a response
Friday, the governor mentioned her order was not motivated by a need to
intrude with the prosecutors’ discretion, however as a substitute “was a lawful
gubernatorial discretion to make sure equal safety and equal entry to
reproductive healthcare statewide.”

Hobbs mentioned the order – issued practically a 12 months after the Supreme Court docket
overturned its Roe v. Wade abortion ruling – is required to place an finish to a
12 months of uncertainty round Arizona’s abortion legal guidelines.

However in a press release Monday, Mitchell mentioned the governor “doesn’t have
authority to strip powers” from county attorneys and the legal professional
common can’t order native prosecutors “to give up a case and not using a
particular cause.”

“For all of those causes, I’ll conduct the enterprise of my workplace as I’ve previously,” Mitchell’s assertion mentioned.

The order requires “centralizing authority over abortion-related
prison prosecutions” underneath Lawyer Normal Kris Mayes for any present
or future abortion-related prosecution introduced by a county legal professional.

Because the Supreme Court docket overturned the constitutional proper to an
abortion final June with its Dobbs v. Jackson Girls’s Well being ruling,
Arizona legal guidelines have modified a number of instances. Leaving it as much as native
prosecutors to determine what instances to press may “lead county attorneys
throughout the State to make disparate choices on whether or not and
criminally prosecute the identical, or comparable, conduct regarding abortion
care and will have a chilling impact that deters and restricts entry
to lawful abortion care,” the order mentioned.

The order additionally prohibits state companies from offering info or
help to different states for prosecution of abortion instances that may
not be punishable underneath Arizona legislation. And it bars extradition of
Arizonans to different states for prison prosecution on abortion prices.

Lastly, the order created an Advisory Council on Defending
Reproductive Freedom charged with increasing entry to sexual and
reproductive well being care within the state.

Most county attorneys who signed the Mitchell letter didn’t reply
to requests for remark Monday on Hobbs’ determination to face by her order.
A spokesperson for Gila County Lawyer Bradley Beauchamp mentioned the
workplace declined remark.

A spokesperson for Pinal County Lawyer Kent Volkmer mentioned the workplace
is “evaluating all of our choices” on the way it desires to proceed.

Of the three county attorneys who didn’t signal the letter – Pima
County Lawyer Laura Conover, La Paz County Lawyer Tony Rogers and
Apache County Lawyer Michael Whiting – Rogers and Whiting didn’t
reply to requests for remark Monday. However Conover has defended the
governor’s order.

“We agree with the Governor as to each the urgency and severity of this very distinctive state of affairs,” Conover mentioned in a June 23 assertion. “We are going to voluntarily ship all prison referrals to the Lawyer Normal within the spirit of fixing this constitutional inequity.”

McIntyre mentioned the attorneys who did signal the letter are “nonetheless sort
of engaged on that subsequent step.” He mentioned that “usually, what we’re
taking a look at can be submitting a lawsuit, sadly.”

“There’s been some dialogue however I don’t assume there’s a remaining sort
of determination … as a gaggle as to what to do subsequent,” he mentioned Monday. “And
that will occur individually, like every separate county would possibly take
motion. Or, like I mentioned, it would occur as a gaggle.”