Former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has filed a motion to dismiss a defamation suit filed against her by an Arizona election official.
Lake’s attorneys filed the motion Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court seeking to dismiss the defamation suit filed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican. In the motion to dismiss, the attorneys write that the sole issue in the case is “whether a political candidate should have a judgment entered against her for comments about a public official regarding an election, a matter of significant public concern.”
The motion argues an Arizona law makes it “easier to dismiss suits that directly interfere with a speaker’s constitutional rights” because it was amended to “prevent public officials from using private litigation as a means to punish and prevent speech on political issues that should be considered as part of the open public discourse.”
The motion adds that Richer “certainly has the right to publicly dispute defendants’ speech,” but Arizona law “does not allow him to bring this lawsuit in an attempt to punish or silence such speech simply because he disagrees with it. In fact, Richer’s own public statements about this lawsuit shows that his intention is to violate Kari Lake’s right to free speech.”
In a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, Lake wrote, “There is no hurt feelings clause in the United States Constitution. I have a right to free speech.”
In his suit filed June 22, Richer said Lake, her campaign and her political group Save Arizona Fund Inc. made repeated false accusations that he tried to sabotage the election. Richer said in the suit that statements Lake and these groups made about his handling of the election led him to receive death threats and increase his personal and professional security.
Lake, a former TV news anchor, lost the 2022 gubernatorial race to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs by about 17,000 votes, which was outside the margins to trigger a recount, which Arizona Republicans lowered after 2020’s closely contested race. She did not concede the race and is reportedly considering running for U.S. Senate next year.