By Staff Reporter |
Republicans are hoping to field a candidate against Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen should he decide to run for re-election in 2026. Jantzen, who presided over the 2022 Arizona Attorney General election challenge by now-Congressman Abe Hamadeh, was accused in that case of gross incompetence by lawyers on both sides of the political aisle.
“Lee Jantzen reached levels of incompetence that I honestly did not know were possible,” tweeted Brian Anderson, a Republican influencer and owner of Saguaro Group. “Kept ‘forgetting’ to issue rulings, then ‘forgot’ to sign the rulings, then ‘accidentally’ labeled the AG race as the SOS race, etc. Historic miscarriage of justice.”
In 2023, after a series of serious missteps, attorneys on both sides of Hamadeh’s election contest discovered that Jantzen signed what should have been a final order, but left matters pending, resulting in an “unfinal” final order. The judge’s failure delayed final judgment, leaving Hamadeh without the opportunity to file an appeal on the denial by Jantzen for a new trial.
At that time, Mohave County residents reached out to the Arizona Daily Independent, telling the outlet that they were “embarrassed and frustrated by the continued missteps by Judge Jantzen. Residents are concerned about Judge Jantzen’s history of malfeasance and how his conduct in this case could indicate issues with other more routine cases that he presides over.”
An X account operated by supporters of Congressman Hamadeh weighed in on the discussion started by Mohave County Republicans last week, asking:
“Do we have any brave attorneys in Mohave County who want to run to become a judge in Superior Court? ‘Judge’ Jantzen, who inexplicably ruled against @AbrahamHamadeh’s election lawsuit WITHOUT considering the evidence is up for election again in 2026. He helped disenfranchise THOUSANDS of voters. We have to uproot the corruption in Arizona. We can start with this judge.”
Jantzen’s repeated mistakes left court watchers wondering if he was intentionally slow walking the case, saying that it created an increased air of distrust in both the judicial system and the electoral process.
That distrust of the judicial system only worsened when nine months to the day after Jantzen denied Hamadeh’s election challenge did the Arizona Supreme Court issue an order to Jantzen to do his job “forthwith” and sign-off on two overdue judgments in the case, one of which dated back to Dec. 23, 2022.
Hamadeh’s case was not the first time Jantzen ran afoul of the Arizona Supreme Court. According to public records obtained by the Arizona Daily Independent through Hamadeh’s attorney, Jen Wright, Jantzen stipulated in May 2018 to a censure by the Arizona Supreme Court for “misconduct in office” following an investigation that showed the judge missed the 60-day deadline by more than one year.
Jantzen, who became a superior court judge for Mohave County in 2009, acknowledged as part of the censure that “he has previously received a warning from the Commission for similar misconduct involving a delayed ruling.”
He was also reprimanded in 2021 for the same problem.
A censure is one step down from a suspension and one step above a public reprimand. A censure can be imposed by the Arizona Supreme Court while a reprimand can be imposed by the Court or the Court’s Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC).
The Arizona Judicial Branch has two check-and-balance systems in place in an attempt to guard against judges accidentally or intentionally ignoring the 60-day deadline.
“The 2018 censure noted Jantzen had, from June 2015 to September 2017, falsely signed statements pursuant to ARS 12-128.01 by certifying he had no matters outstanding more than 60 days,” according to the Arizona Daily Independent. “Jantzen’s 2021 Reprimand Order shows the judge signed his March 2020 payroll certification with a notation that a ruling in a 2020 case was overdue. The ruling was finally issued at 78 days.”
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