States Emergency Motion To Intervene PDF
States Emergency Motion To Intervene PDF
States Emergency Motion To Intervene PDF
No. 20-16932
______________________
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
______________________
State of Arizona (the “State”) respectfully submits this certificate in connection with
This case involves the State’s statutory voter registration deadline for voting in
an upcoming election, which has been established under Arizona law since 1990.
midnight of the twenty-ninth day preceding the date of the election.” Ariz. Rev. Stat.
(“A.R.S.”) 16-120(A). This year, the deadline that applies to the upcoming November
3, 2020, General Election (“General Election”) fell on Monday October 5, 2020 (the
“Deadline”).
Plaintiffs waited until a mere three business days before the Deadline to bring suit
in District Court, and they sought the extraordinary remedy of a mandatory injunction
to alter the deadline. On October 5, 2020, the District Court granted, as modified, the
Plaintiffs’ request for mandatory injunction, and further ordered that Defendant is
enjoined from enforcing the A.R.S. § 16-120 October 5, 2020, voter registration
cutoff. The Court set a new deadline of October 23, 2020. The Court’s order (the
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of State publicly announced that she “will not appeal” the Order. This means that no
deadline for voter registration, even though this deadline has been on the books for
30 years up until the very day it applied to the upcoming General Election.
constitutionality of its laws, the State now files this emergency motion to intervene in
the appeal of the District Court’s final judgment that is pending in this Court.
Equity v. Wilson, 122 F.3d 718, 719 (9th Cir. 1997). Accord Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct.
enjoining a “State from conducting [its] elections pursuant to a statute enacted by the
Legislature… would seriously and irreparably harm” the State. Abbott v. Perez, 138 S.
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The State is thus suffering irreparable harm already as it cannot enforce the
election laws enacted by its duly enacted representatives. The State therefore seeks
expedited treatment of its motion to intervene and attaches as Exhibit A its joinder in
The harms at issue are particularly significant because, as the Supreme Court
has explained, “Court orders affecting elections, especially conflicting orders, can
themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from
the polls. As an election draws closer, that risk will increase.” Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549
U.S. 1, 4-5 (2006). The district court’s injunction was issued on October 5—less than
one month before the general election—making these risks substantial. Indeed, just
today, this Court issued a published opinion in Arizona Democratic Party et al. v. Hobbs
and State of Arizona, No. 20-16759 (9th Cir. Oct. 6, 2020), granting the State’s
emergency motion for a stay pending appeal. This Court stated, “the Supreme Court
‘has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the
Here the harms are particularly acute because the potential for chaos is already
manifest. As the State’s Election Director stated in her declaration filed in District
Court, “this last-minute change” could “lead to administration problems for election
officials and may cause voter confusion.” Dul Declaration at ¶12. “Plaintiffs’
requested relief imagines that all county officials will be able to process voter
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registration forms that arrive during the early voting period, when counties must shift
resources to operating early voting locations and ensuring voters who have requested
a ballot-by-mail receive one. This may pose a significant burden on counties as they
have limited staff (especially during this time).” Id. ¶13. Indeed, the early voting
to update official correspondence and advertisements which all informed voters of the
Every day that these issues remain open is therefore one in which voters may
this afternoon. The State notified the emergency clerk by email this evening.
For the State’s Emergency Motion to Intervene, the State proposes a deadline
of Friday October 9 at 4:00 p.m. for any responses and Monday October 12 at 10:00
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County recorders have already been sending early ballots out to overseas military
personnel.
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Note that in District Court, the Secretary was represented by:
Kara Karlson
Linley Sarah Wilson
Office of the Attorney General
2005 N Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004-1592
602-542-8118
kara.karlson@azag.gov
linley.wilson@azag.gov
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Kory A Langhofer
Thomas James Basile
Statecraft PLLC
649 N 4th Ave., Ste. B
Phoenix, AZ 85003
602-571-4275
kory@statecraftlaw.com
tom@statecraftlaw.com
Counsel for the Intervenor-Appellants
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1
BACKGROUND...................................................................................................................... 1
ARGUMENT ............................................................................................................................ 4
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 10
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INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24, the State of Arizona (the
Appellants Emergency Motion Under Circuit Rule 27-3 For Administrative Stay.
BACKGROUND
This case involves the State’s statutory voter registration deadline for voting in
an upcoming election, which has been established under Arizona law since 1990.
midnight of the twenty-ninth day preceding the date of the election.” A.R.S. 16-
120(A). This year, the deadline that applies to the upcoming November 3, 2020,
“Deadline”).
Plaintiffs waited until a mere three business days before the Deadline to bring suit
in District Court, and they sought the extraordinary remedy of a mandatory injunction
to alter the deadline. Notably, the Plaintiffs did not name any of the 15 county
recorders, who are independent elected officials and who would be the officials most
directly affected by the relief Plaintiffs sought. Instead, they only named a single state
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official, the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State indicated her intent to defend
the State’s longstanding statutory requirement, and her State Election Director filed a
request for mandatory injunction, and further ordered that Defendant is enjoined
from enforcing the A.R.S. § 16-120 October 5, 2020, voter registration cutoff. The
Court set a new deadline of October 23, 2020. The Court’s order (the “Order”) is a
final judgment.
Defendant Hobbs publicly announced that she “will not appeal” the Order. See
Dkt. 4 at 2 n.1 (citing Secretary’s tweet). This means that no Arizona official is
actively defending the constitutionality of the State’s statutory deadline for voter
registration, even though this deadline has been on the books for 30 years up until the
In this Court, Appellants have filed an Emergency Motion Under Circuit Rule
27-3 For Administrative Stay. Dkt. 3. They have indicated that they are also planning
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standing as intervenors to prosecute this appeal when the Secretary of State has
declined to do so.” Id. at 2. They also argue that the District Court erred in
Motion for an Administrative Stay. Dkt. 4. Like their Motion to Dismiss, the
Opposition relies heavily on the notion that Appellants lack standing to appeal, and
they also argue that there is “no irreparable harm to intervenors.” Id. at 3 (emphasis
added). The State’s intervention is thus directly relevant, if not dispositive, to these
arguments by Plaintiffs.
LEGAL STANDARD
Rule of Civil Procedure 24. See Int’l Union, United Auto., Aerospace & Agric. Implement
Workers v. Scofield, 382 U.S. 205, 217 n.10 (1965); Day v. Apoliona, 505 F.3d 963, 965
(9th Cir. 2007); see also Sierra Club, Inc. v. EPA, 358 F.3d 516, 517–18 (7th Cir. 2004)
(“[A]ppellate courts have turned to … Fed.R.Civ.P. 24.”); Mass. Sch. of Law at Andover,
Inc. v. United States, 118 F.3d 776, 779 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (same).
considerations,’ not technical distinctions.” Sw. Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Berg, 268
F.3d 810, 818 (9th Cir. 2001); see also Wilderness Soc’y v. U.S. Forest Serv., 630 F.3d 1173,
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ARGUMENT
Prete v. Bradbury, 438 F.3d 949, 954 (9th Cir. 2006); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(2).
seek intervention in federal court on behalf of the State. See A.R.S. § 41-193(A)(3)
(empowering Department of Law to represent the State in federal courts); see also
Department of Law). This Court, sitting en banc, recently granted the State of
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constitutionality of its laws. Democratic National Committee v. Hobbs, No. 18-15845, Dkt.
Moreover, this Court has held in an unpublished decision that filing of a notice
of appeal “divest[s] the district court of its jurisdiction … to entertain [a] motion to
intervene.” Bryant v. Crum & Forster Specialty Ins. Co., 502 Fed. Appx. 670, 671 (9th Cir.
2012). The State accordingly is seeking to intervene in this Court, which plainly has
“(1) the stage of the proceeding at which the applicant seeks to intervene; (2) the
prejudice to the other parties; and (3) the reason for and length of delay.” See U.S. ex
rel. McGough v. Covington Techs. Co., 967 F.2d 1391, 1394 (9th Cir. 1992). Based on
Most importantly, there has been no delay by the State in bringing its motion to
intervene. The underlying case was instituted in District Court last Wednesday,
September 30, 2020, a mere three business days before the statutory voter registration
deadline. Yesterday, the District Court entered its final judgment in that case and
Appellants filed their notice of appeal. Until yesterday, Secretary Hobbs had been
defending the State’s interest in this litigation. But with Secretary Hobbs’s recent
public decision declining to appeal the District Court’s adverse judgment, it is only
now provident that the State move to intervene to ensure its interest in retaining its
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“broad authority to structure and regulate elections is preserved.” Short v. Brown, 893
Further, this Court has repeatedly explained that “the ‘general rule is that a
post-judgment motion to intervene is timely if filed within the time allowed for the
filing of an appeal.’” McGough, 967 F.2d at 1394 (quoting Yniguez v. Arizona, 939 F.2d
727, 734 (9th Cir. 1991) (alteration omitted)). The Supreme Court has similarly held
that where a party “filed [its] motion within the time period in which the named
plaintiffs could have taken an appeal … the [party’s] motion to intervene was timely
filed[.]” United Airlines, Inc. v. McDonald, 432 U.S. 385, 396 (1977). Federal Rule of
Appellate Procedure 4 gives parties 30 days to file an appeal. This motion is filed
This motion also poses no prejudice to the other parties at this stage given that
the District Court entered its final judgment concluding the proceedings below, and
this appellate proceeding is only commencing. See Sierra Club v. Espy, 18 F.3d 1202,
1205 (5th Cir. 1994) (“requirement of timeliness is … a guard against prejudicing the
and Due Process claims will be “essentially the same as it would have been” had the
For all of these reasons, “there [has been] no improper delay by the [State] in
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laws. “[A] State has standing to defend the constitutionality of its statute.” Diamond v.
Charles, 476 U.S. 54, 62 (1986); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.1(c) (permitting intervention
“because the Article III standing requirements are more stringent than those for
intervention under rule 24(a),” where a State has standing to defend a law, that
“standing under Article III compels the conclusion that they have an adequate interest
The State also has a compelling interest in structuring its elections. See Burdick
v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 433 (1992); John Doe No. 1 v. Reed, 561 U.S. 186, 197 (2010)
efforts to root out fraud, which not only may produce fraudulent outcomes, but has a
systemic effect as well: It ‘drives honest citizens out of the democratic process and
breeds distrust of our government.’” Reed, 561 U.S. at 197; see also Purcell v. Gonzalez,
549 U.S. 1, 4 (2006) (“Confidence in the integrity of our electoral processes is essential
intervention.
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is ‘minimal’ and satisfied if the applicant can demonstrate that representation of its
interests ‘may be’ inadequate.” Citizens for Balanced Use v. Mont. Wilderness Ass’n, 647
F.3d 893, 898 (9th Cir. 2011) (quoting Arakaki v. Cayetano, 324 F.3d 1078, 1086 (9th
(1) whether the interest of a present party is such that it will undoubtedly
make all of a proposed intervenor’s arguments; (2) whether the present
party is capable and willing to make such arguments; and (3) whether a
proposed intervenor would offer any necessary elements to the
proceeding that other parties would neglect.
Perry v. Proposition 8 Official Proponents, 587 F.3d 947, 952 (9th Cir. 2009).
that she will no longer defend the challenged State laws through appeal to this Court
or to the court of last resort here: the Supreme Court of the United States. This
change suffices to satisfy the minimal burden of showing potential inadequacy and
supports the Attorney General now moving to intervene on behalf of the State. On
that basis, the State, through the Attorney General, has grounds that can satisfy the
adequacy threshold.
right, this is precisely the type of case where permissive intervention is warranted.
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Federal courts may permit intervention by litigants who have “a claim or defense that
shares with the main action a common question of law or fact.” Fed. R. Civ. P.
As explained more fully above, the State has a compelling interest in the
outcome of this action and has standing to defend the constitutionality of its laws. See
also A.R.S. § 41-193(A)(3) (granting authority to the Attorney General to defend the
State in federal court). Furthermore, the State’s motion is timely, and its participation
will not unnecessarily prolong, prejudice, or unduly delay the litigation. Indeed, the
* * *
The State has constitutional authority to regulate its election process. See U.S.
Const. art. I, § 4, cl. 1; Clingman v. Beaver, 544 U.S. 581, 586 (2005). And “[c]ommon
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sense, as well as constitutional law, compels the conclusion that government must
play an active role in structuring elections[.]” Burdick, 504 U.S. at 433. Yet the
injunction from the District Court holds invalid a key provision that Arizona put in
place thirty years ago in order to do just that. Due to the recent statements of the
Arizona Secretary of State, the State, through Attorney General Brnovich, moves to
intervene in this matter in order to avoid any doubt as to the standing of Appellants
to prosecute this appeal, and ensure that all State interests will be adequately
represented.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the State respectfully requests that the Court grant
MARK BRNOVICH
ATTORNEY GENERAL
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on this 6th day of October, 2020, I caused the foregoing
registrants.
I also emailed a copy to the Secretary of State through her State Elections
Director.
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