Journalists’ Roundtable: Supreme Court hears abortion case, attorneys sanctioned and more

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for another edition of the Journalists’ Roundtable. To discuss this week’s top stories, we were joined by Mary Jo Pitzl of The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, Bob Christie of Capitol Media Services and Camryn Sanchez of KJZZ radio.

Top stories this week include:

• Governor Hobbs ordering troops to the border
• Supreme Court hears abortion case
• Chesebro interviewed by AG’s office
• Attorneys sanctioned
• GOP plan to lower gas prices
• Dark money transparency suit

Governor Hobbs Sends National Guard to the Border

Camryn Sanchez: “It’s a big deal because initially she didn’t want to talk about it, and then she said she would do it if she had to do it, and I guess she has to do it now because it’s happening. She seems pretty upset with the Biden administration for not lending a hand.”

The troops are designed to help get the Lukeville port of entry under control because of its closure, Sanchez said.

Mary Jo Pitzl: “She also mentioned that the National Guard will help with enforcement actions, whatever that exactly means. I don’t think they can apprehend illegal crossers. But this is coming just in time for Christmas and Christmas break, when we all know there are a lot of Arizonans who want to go down to Rocky Point and spend their holidays there.”

Bob Christie: “For folks in Arizona who want to go to the Phoenix beach, which is Rocky Point Puerto Peñasco, it’s a big deal. Whether or not this does anything to reopen the border? Unclear. She did meet this morning with the governor of Sonora, Mexico, and that governor put out a statement saying that they’re working to try to come up with a plan to reopen it. This is all dependent on the federal government, though, so I don’t think sending a few troops to be near the border, not on the border and not specifically actually doing anything to reopen the border, will affect the federal decision there.”