As reported earlier, on November 10, 2015, the Ninth Circuit struck down Tucson’s system of city council elections, in Public Integrity Alliance v City of Tucson, 15-16142. The vote was 2-1 and the city asked for en banc rehearing. On January 5, 2016, the state of Washington filed an amicus brief on side of the city of Tucson. But on January 15, the state of Arizona filed an amicus against the city of Tucson.

The issue is the city’s system of electing city councilmembers. The city uses partisan elections. In the partisan primaries, parties nominate with primaries that are based entirely on a particular ward. But, in November, the party nominees run against each other in citywide elections. The Ninth Circuit says this violates equal protection for the voters inside each ward. The Washington state brief belittles this conclusion and says that the Ninth Circuit might not have been aware of how common the Tucson system is. The Washington state brief points out that this system is used for many local elections in Washington state.

The Arizona amicus, which opposes Tucson and doesn’t want the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case, says that the Arizona Supreme Court is about to hear a case that might settle the matter, so the federal court should not do anything further.