Arizona Court Favors ‘Political Correctness,’ Immigration

Public-interest group Judicial Watch is standing behind a published report on its blog that the chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court agreed to ban the terms “illegal” and “aliens” in all of the state’s courtrooms at the request of the Arizona Hispanic Bar Association.

Recently an Arizona Supreme Court official threatened to sue Judicial Watch for slander for disclosing the information, which is documented in correspondence between Arizona’s Hispanic Bar Association and the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor. Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton says the Hispanic group wanted McGregor to censor speech in the courtrooms.

{snip}

“When we wrote about it, saying it looks like these words are banned, we got this call from the court spokesperson who talked about slander, which is a code word for ‘you pull back or we’ll sue,’” Fitton contends. “So we’ve effectively been threatened by the court with a lawsuit over this. It’s political correctness run amok.”

Judicial Watch sent a response letter back to the court, standing behind its story and providing a website link to copies of all the documents in question. Fitton points out the Arizona Supreme Court has since backed off, saying no words are being banned in the courts.

[Editor’s Note: Earlier stories on this matter can be read starting here.]