Arizona Senate candidate Ruben Gallego is seeking an emergency stay from an Arizona appeals court to prevent the unsealing of his 2017 divorce file with limited redactions.
Gallego, who represents Arizona’s Third Congressional District, is pressing the appellate court to stay a district court’s July 3 ruling that the total sealing of the case was improper. In that ruling, Yavapai district court judge John Napper ordered the unsealing of the court file on July 18. The Arizona Court of Appeals said on Wednesday it would receive briefings on the matter, pausing the July 18 unsealing while it does so.
In pressing the court to intervene at the eleventh hour, Gallego argues that the Washington Free Beacon "inserted itself into [his] long-dormant divorce proceedings" to remove a "critical layer of protection" from him and his family and accused the publication of displaying "political motivations."
The Free Beacon has argued that the atypical sealing of Gallego’s divorce records amounted to two politicians claiming privileges unavailable to the average Arizona citizen and that unsealing of the records is in the public interest given that Gallego and his ex-wife, Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego, hold public office. Gallego, who is likely to face off against Republican Kari Lake to succeed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I., Ariz.), is running in one of the most hotly contested Senate races of the cycle.
The Free Beacon filed a motion in January to unseal the records, which have been shielded from public view since 2016, when Gallego filed for divorce from a nine-months pregnant Kate Gallego. While divorce records in Arizona are typically accessible to the public, the Gallegos succeeded, at the time, in pressing a district court judge to put the entire case—including its existence on the docket—under seal.
Absent the intervention of the Arizona Court of Appeals, that decision will reverse and the divorce file will be available to the public with limited redactions.