Judge Overseeing Arizona Senate’s Audit Recuses Himself 24hrs Before Hearing
Court received filings at 4 p.m. that included names of new attorneys
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A Maricopa County Judge, overseeing the legal challenge to the Arizona Senate’s audit of votes cast in the 2020 presidential election, has recused himself less than twenty-four hours before the hearing scheduled for Monday.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury recused himself after learning attorney Chris Viskovic had joined the case.
12 News first obtained a copy of the recusal, which revealed the court received filings at 4 p.m. that included names of new attorneys, including Viskovic, who worked at the office of Coury “as an extern within the past five years.”
Viskovic now holds a position as a junior associate at Kolodin Law Group PLLC, representing cybersecurity firm Cyber Ninjas in court.
The state Senate hired cyber Ninjas to conduct the audit.
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The recusal notes Coury must recuse himself from any further involvement in the case in accordance with the state’s code of judicial conduct and rules of the Arizona Supreme Court
It says the case will be reassigned to a new judicial officer.
It is not clear who will replace Coury.
Companies hired by the state Senate are examining 2.1 million ballots.
The state-issued subpoenas required to execute the audit were ruled as valid on Feb. 25.
The Arizona Democratic Party filed a lawsuit to block the audit last week.
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Neon Nettle reported:
The motion requests a temporary restraining order and argues the audit of the 2.1 million ballots and the county's voting machines violate state law.
The pair of plaintiffs, including Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, says the audit is led by partisan contractors employed by the Republican-led state Senate.
Coury said he would temporarily pause the audit until at least Monday to hear more from what Democrats laid out in a lawsuit.
Democrats campaigned to oust Coury from another four-year term on the bench over his ruling on an education ballot proposition called Invest in Ed.
In October, the Maricopa County Democratic Party created a website called him an “activist judge” after he ruled the proposed tax hike for education was misleading.
A report is expected to be released on the audit’s findings in about two months.
