MARl BRNOVICH
ATTORNEY
GENER L
OF
FI
CE OF
TH
E ATIORNEY GENERAL
ST TE
OF
AR
IZONA
Attorney General Merrick
B
Garland
U S
Department
of
Justice 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Was
hin
gton,
DC
20530-000 I Dear Attorney General Garland, June
14
,202
1 Late last
week, you made tro
ubling co
mm
e
nt
s about
th
e ongoing
ef
fort
s
in
states to ensure election inte
grit
y
Your stateme
nt
s displayed an alarm
ing
di
sda
in
for state sovereignty as de
fined
un
der the I
Oth
Amendment
of
he United States Const
itution and
th
e e
le
ction provisions
in
Articles I and
11
Your comments followed a M
ay 5 letter from Pam
ela Karlan
of
th
e Department
of
Jus
ti
ce s
Civil Rights Divis
ion, on the s
ubj
ect
of
the A
ri
zo
na
Senat
e s
oversight
of
th
e Maricopa County
audit. This
letter app
eared more intereste
d
in
s
upp
orting the
hyste
ri
ca
l outcries
of
leftist pundits on c
able television,
rather
th
an the rule
of
law. My office is not amused
by
the
DOJ
s posturing and will not tolerate any effo
rt
to undermine or inte
rf
ere with o
ur
State Senat
e s audit to reassure
Arizonans
of
the accuracy
of
our electi
ons. We sta
nd
ready
to
defend federalism and state sovereig
nt
y against any partis
an attacks or federal overreach.
It
is importa
nt to
reme
mb
er that
th
e states created the feder
al
governme
nt
, not the o
ther way
arou
nd
. America s founders inte
nti
ona
ll
y
re
straine
d the federal governm
ent
s
constitutional
bounda
ri
es
to
ensure each state could flou
rish
in
unique ways. Today, our federal
government has larg
ely forgotten t
he
Fou
nd
ers intent, but
my office
ha
s not.
There are no issues more
imp
ortant for state
s to prioritize than th
e integrity
of
o
ur
elections.
Th
is is the c
ornerstone
of
our republic, binding toget
her
th
e peoples trus
t
in
th
e whole
of
gove
rnm
ent. Today,
we see
mi
stru
t
in
o
ur
elections
from
Americans on all s
id
es
of
th
e political spectrum
. This sh
ou
ld
not
be
a partisan issue. States can and sho
uld
take every opport
unity
to
reassure all c
iti
zens that their
vote counts.
My office look
s for ways to work a
longside the federal
government to
uph
o
ld
our laws within th
e constraints
of
the
lOth
Amendment a
nd
th
e election pr
ovisions
in
Articles I a
nd
II
As
I have demon
st
rated several
tim
es, however, Arizo
na
will not s
it
back and let the
Biele
n administration
abuse its authority
, refuse to uphold law
s, or attempt to co
mm
andeer our state s
sovereig
nt
y
Respectfully, Ma
rk
Brnovich Attorney Genera
l
2005
NORTH CENTRAL
AV
ENUE PHOENIX
AR
IZONA
85004 •
PH
ONE
602.542.4266 •
FAX
602.542.4085 •
\W W
.
Z
AG.
GOV
