Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick joins Glenn Beck to set the record straight about a claim that Arizona registered 98,000 illegal immigrants to vote. Justice Bolick tells Glenn that this is NOT TRUE and there is NO indication that any of the voters in question were here illegally. So, what actually happened? Justice Bolick explains and also comments on what you should do if you’re concerned about the fairness of the 2024 election.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.
You know, our job is getting harder and harder.
I just gave permission to hire, you know, another researcher. This morning.
Because we are just overwhelmed in stories, that we don't know what the truth is.
You should see my -- my email, my -- my private messages.
And even my text messages from friends that I trust. That are like, Glenn, I don't know if this is true. I don't know either!
I don't know either.
And I know you're in that situation. And we are going to go off the cliff, if we can't verify some things.
That's one reason why I'm going to Asheville North Carolina today.
I need to know. Is this stuff happening?
Are there bodies in Chimney Rock, that are still there?
You know, what is happening on the ground?
And we're bringing, you know, a plane full of supplies for them. Through Mercury One.
But we have to -- this is what I said in the meeting today.
We have got to come. And even if we don't talk about them. We have to find out. Are these things true, so you know if they're true or not?
And we'll do our best. But it takes so much time. We have so much going on. I think it was like a week ago, or so.
Do you remember the story that Arizona added 98,000 illegals?
STU: I remember that being, yeah.
GLENN: And I think we talked about it, right?
STU: Yeah. I think we did at the time. And tried to give perspective.
So much stuff for people to sort through right now.
GLENN: Firm the story right, it was hard decipher.
I think that's why we didn't follow up on it, at all. Because I don't know what is right on this story.
STU: Let's lock it down.
GLENN: Well, good news, the head guy of the Arizona Supreme Court wrote to us. He's Justice Bolick. He, who joined the court in 2016. He previously cofounded the Institute for Justice and served as litigation director for the Goldwater Institute. So he's one of us.
He litigated constitutional cases from coast-to-coast, including the US Supreme Court.
He's not the Supreme Court. He's a Supreme Court I couldn't wait. But he's not the chief justice now, in Arizona.
But he says, that story is wrong.
And he would be the guy that knows. Clint, welcome to the program.
CLINT: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Glenn. And thanks for making the correction. My boss, the chief justice would have drawn and quartered me.
(laughter)
GLENN: You know, this story was everywhere. And I don't remember what we said. We might have said that yep. That's crazy.
And the Supreme Court is out of control.
I don't know what we said. But if we got it wrong, A, I apologize.
So let's correct it. And correct all of the stories that were out there. What happened?
CLINT: So, Glenn, thank you so much for that.
And, you know, usually, when a court issues controversial decisions, they know it.
And so for a couple of days after, we did not consider this to be a controversial decision at all.
But all of a sudden, we were hearing from people, and I was encountering people, who were saying, we were letting illegal immigrants vote.
And I looked at the headlines, that had come out, and just I've got one I'm reading in front of me, from Newsweek, that said Arizona court, says nearly 100,000 people with unconfirmed citizenship can vote.
And so I can well understand, why people got that impression.
GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.
CLINT: But the headline should have read, court. Arizona court prevents disenfranchisement of 100,000 people over computer error.
And that's exactly what happened.
So Arizona is one of the few states, that requires proof of citizenship, before someone votes.
And when the law was passed, they assumed, that people who had registered by 2005, were -- were legal citizens. So they didn't require you to show proof of citizenship, unless you moved to a different county, or applied for a duplicate license. And due to a Department of Motor Vehicles glitch. And I know that's hard to believe.
GLENN: Oh, no. It's hard to believe that the government would do anything that had glitches in it.
CLINT: Yeah. So in any event, apparently, a large number of people, who were registered to -- to -- to vote, and who had driver's licenses before 1996, and who moved, or got duplicate licenses, were never asked to prove their citizenships.
Now, most of these people had been voting for decade.
And, you know, so -- so there's no indication that any of them are illegal who didn't notice. But once this problem was discovered, the county recorder of Maricopa County, went to court, and said, all of these people should be removed and required to prove their citizenship, between now and the election.
And, of course, the same people who made the mistake, would have been this charge of -- of making sure that those were shown by the election.
And just imagine, if we had gone to Election Day and thousands, possibly over 100,000 people who had been voting for decades. Were told, oh, no.
We don't know whether you're a citizen or not.
GLENN: Right.
CLINT: And how this is not -- so, in any event, it was a very easy legal issue for us.
And it was the only election case, Glenn.
That I can remember, where the Arizona Republican party, and the ACLU were on the same side.
They hoped that please don't throw these people off the ballot.
You know, we discovered.
We determined that we had no authority to take that many people off the ballot.
You can challenge individual voters, at -- if you think that they are not citizens. And after the election, though, there will be an effort to verify citizenship.
But most of these people would have had no idea what was going on.
You know, given that they voted without a problem for -- for decades. And so it just -- it was one of those stories, that the headlines. One of those cases, that the headlines turned into a controversy.
But it really wasn't a controversy at all.
GLENN: Right. So with an election coming up, and you guys -- are you guys voted on, in the Supreme Court?
CLINT: So, yes. We are subject to retention every six years.
GLENN: Oh.
CLINT: And yours truly is one of those justices up for retention this year, with a very spirited campaign against me from self-described progressive groups.
GLENN: Oh, great. Well, all you had to say -- you had me at Goldwater Institute.
So, you know, I'm -- I'm for you, Glenn.
How -- how confident are you, that we can have a fair election this time in Arizona?
CLINT: Well, you know, I'm not on the ground. I'm not involved.
GLENN: Okay.
CLINT: You know, in the day-to-day.
And, you know, one of the things that I've been doing is encouraging people to volunteer as poll workers.
You know, and other jobs that take place on Election Day. The best -- the best place to be on Election Day, if you have concerns about election integrity, is on the inside.
And I've been very heartened that both political parties. Both major and political parties have really been encouraging volunteers to do that.
And when I hear that sort of thing, it gives me. It gives me confidence that, you know -- that --
GLENN: At least that step has been taken.
CLINT: Yes.
Yeah.
GLENN: Yeah. Well, thanks for clearing this up. I appreciate it.
And, you know, if -- if there's anybody who is on the right, that has misunderstood this, which I think probably a lot of people. Because it was everywhere.
And I -- I apologize.
Again, I don't know exactly what we said. But let's just assume, we were one of those who believed the headlines.
Apology to -- to our audience. And to everybody in Arizona. I'm glad you reached out to us, so we can set the record straight.
Thank you.
CLINT: Glenn, I am so -- you know, I am so glad that you gave me the opportunity. I'm sure it's not every day, that the judge contacts you. And says, hey.
GLENN: Yeah.
CLINT: This is not correct.
GLENN: Yeah. No. I agree. I invite anyone.
If we get something wrong, I'm not afraid of correcting it and saying, we were wrong. So I appreciate that you reached out to us.
Because we will correct it. We will correct it. Thanks.
CLINT: Well, and I am so grateful for that. If everyone did that, we would be in a much better place in our society right now.
GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. We would. We would. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.
Clint Bolick, he's Arizona Supreme Court justice. And apparently, running for reaffirment.
And let me just say, Goldwater Institute.
I don't think I need to say anymore.