Newspaper wants to make Senate candidate’s divorce records public

The divorce records for the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona, set to be made public this week, will remain private for now after an appeals court granted a temporary stay as the ex-couple appeal.

The divorce docket for Democrat Ruben Gallego and his former wife, Kate, with some but not all, of the Gallegos’ requested redactions was set to be made public Thursday, but the Arizona Court of Appeals granted a temporary stay as they brief the motion.

Kate Gallego announced the couple would be filing for divorce in 2016, months before the birth of their first child. The two filed for divorce in Yavapai County and successfully got the entire docket sealed.

In January, The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative newspaper, filed to unseal Gallego’s divorce. After back and forth, Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper moved to unseal the records and asked the Gallegos to submit proposed redactions to the public file.

On July 3, he issued a final order with a portion of the Gallego’s requested blackouts. The docket was to be made public on July 18. But the two filed an emergency motion with the Arizona Court of Appeals to stay the lower court’s order.

Daniel Arellano, attorney for Ruben and Kate Gallego, tells the appellate court that The Washington Free Beacon “inserted itself into the Gallegos’ long-dormant divorce proceedings” and “has repeatedly stated that it seeks to publish the details of the Gallegos’ divorce out of political motivations.”

Arrellano noted under the current order, “The sealed record in this case will become public, thereby irreparably harming the privacy and safety rights they have sought to preserve for themselves and their minor child.”

He argued that unsealing the record is irreparable and claimed the Gallegos have “stridently maintained that their overriding interest in privacy does not disappear simply because of their jobs.”

Arrellano wrote, “In a polarized era in which the details of elected officials are incessantly tracked, the risk of wrongful disclosure that could give a lead to bad actors is high.”

The Arizona Court of Appeals ordered The Washington Free Beacon file a response by July 24, with a reply due July 29.