"A judge says the Arizona Senate can't claim legislative privilege to avoid releasing a wide variety of records from the review of the 2020 vote count conducted on behalf of Republican leaders.

"Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah took a step toward resolving a key issue when he carved out a narrow view of legislative privilege in the case filed by Phoenix Newspapers Inc., the publisher of the Republic. Hannah said the Senate may be able to keep secret only the communications of lawmakers discussing legislation, but talk of the Senate's so-called 'forensic audit' that don't relate to the public policy implications is not privileged.

"The Senate argues that lawmakers can't engage in free-wheeling debate about public policy if they're worried their emails and text messages will later become public.

"But Hannah said the Senate can't plausibly claim a need for secrecy given the amount of information that the Senate has already made public about the ballot review. He said the Senate waived any privilege claim they might have, citing a livestream, access for media, public discussions by Senate representatives and multiple public hearings during and after the review.

"'This is not a confidential process,' Hannah said. 'This is a highly, highly public process.'"