Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Tim Ryan recused himself from a lawsuit challenging the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) following a request by the litigants, Arizona Senate Majority Leader Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria). The request stems from the fact that Ryan’s older brother – a high-profile and virulent progressive activist attorney – repeatedly denigrated calls for increased election integrity measures in the state, including cases his jurist brother was presiding over.
The Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus issued an announcement praising the recusal. “His brother, Tom Ryan, is a liberal attorney who plagues social media with his contempt for the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature with an incessant number of juvenile posts,” the statement said. “There is no way anyone who has witnessed the antics of Judge Ryan’s brother, which included case-specific criticisms and commentary, can credibly believe that Judge Ryan could give the Legislature a fair trial.”
The older Ryan, an election attorney involved himself in many election lawsuits, mocked the press release, which was issued by the spokesperson for the Arizona Senate Republicans, Kim Quintero. “I see that Ms. Quintero pulled out her Roget’s Thesaurus from high school today,” he said.
Dear 'Zona Litigation Disaster Tourists, once again I must post about more frivolous litigation being filed by the AZ GOP. This time it is by two law firms that should know better. This involves a lawsuit brought by @votewarren & @RepBenToma vs. @Adrian_Fontes over the EPM. 1/
— Tom Ryan (@tomryanlaw) February 1, 2024
In a lengthy thread on X, the older Ryan, to his 6,293 followers on X, blasted the lawsuit. “No matter how much whipped cream you put on a cowpie, it’s never going to be delectable,” he said. He asked where is the proof that the Senate and House “authorized these two Yahoos to sue on their behalf” and called the complaint “frivolous.” He predicted the case is so flawed it would be thrown out. He called the litigation “performance litigation to destroy and undermine Arizona citizens’ confidence in Arizona elections.”
Ryan reposted a poll by an account that asked, “Are Warren Petersen and Ben Toma objectively ‘two Yahoos’?” Both of the options for answers were “yes.”
He frequently opines about what he believes is the standard for election challenge lawsuits, contradicting established law. “Every witness, they have said there is no evidence of intentional misconduct,” Ryan told KVOA after the 2022 election, discussing Kari Lake’s election lawsuit. “They don’t have it. They have guesses and surmises, but that’s not the same thing as having actual evidence. They also have to be able to name who the specific actor is, who’s the person or persons that had the bad intent to somehow affect the outcome. Again, nobody has been identified.”
Numerous court cases have held that the standards for overturning elections include whether there was a chance the outcome could have been affected by the illegal actions (Reyes v. Cuming), whether a non-technical statute was violated (also Reyes), whether a handful of voters were disenfranchised, or other lower bars.
Ryan attacks Kari Lake and her election litigation frequently. On Friday, he posted on X, “@NathanSproul I read @LaurieRoberts opinion piece below. @KariLake is not a Conservative at all. She is a foot soldier in the MAGA cult. She will absolutely follow your advice and not change which is why her Senatorial campaign is just a dead man walking.”
@NathanSproul I read @LaurieRoberts opinion piece below. @KariLake is not a Conservative at all. She is a foot soldier in the MAGA cult. She will absolutely follow your advice and not change which is why her Senatorial campaign is just a dead 💀 man walking. https://t.co/NpjTtdm6JT
— Tom Ryan (@tomryanlaw) February 23, 2024
Ryan described Lake’s election lawsuit to KJZZ as “somebody is just filing basically a ‘let’s throw it against the wall and see what sticks’ kind of a complaint.” He described oral arguments by her attorneys to the AZ Mirror, “They’re winging it. This is a classic case of the blind leading the blind. It is embarrassing to watch. The AZ Mirror described Ryan as a “frequent Lake critic.”
Ryan has also criticized Abe Hamadeh’s election lawsuits, calling one “performative litigation for consumption by the uninformed masses.” After State Senator Sonny Borelli (R-Lake Havasu) told counties to stop using electronic voting machine tabulators, Ryan ridiculed him, saying his instructions were “nonsense.” His X feed is full of similar disparaging remarks about Republicans’ election integrity efforts, and many officials and activists have blocked him due to his personal attacks.
The Arizona Sun Times submitted a public records request to the Maricopa County Superior Court on January 3 asking for the reasons multiple judges recused themselves from election cases, but has received no response yet. A retired lawyer recently filed judicial complaints against 12 Arizona judges who were on the ballot themselves but failed to recuse themselves from hearing cases related to the 2020 and 2022 elections.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
