Arizona appeals court upholds ruling to unseal Ruben and Kate Gallego's divorce records

The Arizona Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a lower court's decision to unseal years-old divorce records between U.S. Senate candidate Ruben Gallego and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.

The records were set to go public Oct. 17 unless the Gallegos seek and successfully obtain a stay from the Arizona Supreme Court, which would keep the documents sealed.

The appellate court decision, written by Presiding Judge Brian Furuya along with judges James Morse Jr. and David Weinzweig, said Arizona law presumes court records are open and the Gallegos failed to justify why their 2016 divorce records should remain sealed. The court also rejected the Gallegos' claims that certain redactions they requested should have been accepted by the lower court.

The Gallegos needed to show "overriding circumstances continue to exist or that other grounds provide a sufficient basis for keeping the record sealed," the opinion said.

The decision came months after the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative Washington, D.C., news organization, asked the Yavapai Superior Court in January to open the sealed divorce records. Judge John Napper ruled in the publication's favor, but the Gallegos appealed.

The Gallegos' filings at the Arizona Court of Appeals were sealed, but they both publicly issued statements saying unsealing the divorce records would endanger their son's safety.

The two have 30 days to appeal the decision to the Arizona Supreme Court, according to a spokesperson from the Arizona Court of Appeals' clerk's office. The Gallegos would need to seek a stay from the state's high court to keep the records under seal past Oct. 17.

The Gallegos issued a joint statement through their spokespeople, tying the publication's effort to Ruben's Senate opponent, Republican Kari Lake.

"Kari Lake will stop at nothing to score a cheap political point — even if it means endangering the privacy and well-being of our young son. We have long put our child before all else and will continue to do so. It is shameful that Lake, her allies, and those who amplify her cruelty refuse to respect two people who are just trying to raise a beautiful boy together,” the Gallegos said.

Lake adviser Caroline Wren responded on the social media platform X, "We have nothing to do with this lawsuit."

No justification to conceal the records, news outlet contends

Eliana Johnson, editor-in-chief of the Free Beacon, said she was "pleased" with the decision and that voters could now "have a full view into who Ruben Gallego is."

She said the Free Beacon had "no interest in exposing that child to danger. We're interested in (Ruben Gallego's) behavior and what kind of a person he is."

The Free Beacon's founding editor Matthew Continetti in 2012 wrote that the publication would report from a conservative worldview and partake in "combat journalism." Its reporters would offer an "alternative to the hackneyed spin, routine misstatements, paranoid hyperbole, and insipid folderol of Democratic officials and the liberal gasbags on MSNBC and talk radio," he wrote.

Both the Free Beacon and Lake mentioned the Gallegos split up when Kate Gallego was nearly nine months pregnant. Lake has repeatedly attacked Ruben Gallego, saying he "abandoned" his wife and child.

Johnson said it was suspicious that Ruben Gallego sued for divorce in Yavapai County, despite Arizona law requiring spouses to file in the county where they reside, which for the Gallegos would be Maricopa County.

Attorneys for the Free Beacon argued there was no legal justification to conceal the records and that they were a matter of public interest given the Gallegos' positions as public figures and Ruben Gallego's run for higher office.

"It is more likely that the (Gallegos) are using secrecy and sealing to protect their job safety in their positions of public trust as Mayor, Congressman, and aspiring U.S. Senator," the attorneys wrote.

The Free Beacon's attorneys told the Court of Appeals the Superior Court gave the Gallegos "multiple opportunities to propose and justify specific and narrowly tailored redactions," but that they "returned with broad and sweeping redactions, often of entire pages of court rulings."

They also pointed to Arizona law that requires sealing be "narrowly tailored."

"Not in the Superior Court — and not even in this Court — do the (Gallegos) make specific arguments regarding errors in the Superior Court’s careful redaction judgments," the attorneys wrote, arguing that the Superior Court's decision should be upheld.

Speedy court decision requested as election drew near

Last week, the publication asked the Court of Appeals to quickly reject the Gallegos' appeal and make the records public immediately. The attorneys argued keeping the records sealed restricts the media's First Amendment right "to report on the suitability of a candidate for public office."

Attorneys for the Gallegos opposed the Free Beacon's request, telling the appellate court the Free Beacon was asking the court to "bend itself" to the publication's "political priorities."

They argued immediately releasing the Gallegos' divorce records "would deprive the Gallegos of any meaningful opportunity to seek further appellate review" and "would derogate from the Arizona Supreme Court the final word on issues of statewide importance."

"One party’s access to justice cannot turn on another party’s nakedly partisan aims," the Gallegos' attorneys wrote.

Free Beacon attorneys replied Thursday, telling the Court of Appeals that if the Gallegos wanted to keep the records sealed and seek further review, the pair should "seek that stay from the Arizona Supreme Court."

Michael Edney, an attorney for the Free Beacon, told The Republic he thought it would be difficult for the Gallegos to get a stay from the high court but that it might be granted for a few days or a week, until the Supreme Court decided whether to take the case.

Johnson told The Republic on Wednesday the publication would "fight it till the end."

"Politicians in Arizona should not be able to avail themselves of privileges that are not available to average citizens," she said.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Taylor Seely covers Phoenix for The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.