Key Points:

• Justine Wadsack won’t pay city’s legal fees in civil rights lawsuit

• City of Tucson requested a $7,838 reimbursement for court preparations

• Wadsack now works for Turning Point, a conservative student organization

Justine Wadsack is finally off the financial hook for the civil rights lawsuit she filed and then dismissed against the city of Tucson.

In an Oct. 3 order, U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer Zipps rejected a request by lawyers for the city that the former state senator from the Tucson area reimburse them for the $7,838 they spent preparing for a hearing that Wadsack did not show up to.

Zipps said courts have “inherent powers” to impose sanctions — including the legal fees of an opposing party — “to maintain order and preserve the dignity of the court.”

However, she noted that, given the broad power, judges should not exercise it without a “specific finding of bad faith.” And Zipps said that Wadsack’s actions did not rise to that level.

“While plaintiff failed to appear at the Aug. 26 hearing, she submitted a response to the court’s Order to Show Cause explaining her absence,” the judge said.

In that signed affidavit filing, Wadsack acknowledged she was aware of the hearing in federal court in Tucson. But she told Zipps she is “experiencing a family health crisis that is physically and mentally draining.”

“Consequently, I will at times lose focus and mix up specific dates and times,” Wadsack wrote. “That is what caused my failure to appear.”

In seeking legal fees, Joseph Williams, representing Tucson, accused Wadsack of “lack of candor,” saying she intentionally skipped the hearing to attend another event. Zipps, however, was not convinced that Wadsack should be punished.”

“Although defendants characterize plaintiff’s explanation as dishonest, the record does not provide support for that conclusion or evidence that plaintiff acted vexatiously, wantonly, or for an improper purpose rather than negligently,” the judge said. She said that bad faith — the standard for sanctions — “requires more than mere negligence or recklessness.”

The underlying case involves Wadsack, then still a Republican state senator, being stopped in 2024 for driving 71 miles per hour on East Speedway on a stretch marked at 35 miles per hour.

Wadsack said she had a placard on the back of her vehicle identifying her as a state legislator and stated that she should not have been stopped because the Arizona Constitution prohibits lawmakers from being cited for criminal violations while the Legislature is in session.

The officer, acknowledging that constitutional provision, did not issue a citation at the time. But she was charged with criminal speeding after the session ended.

That case was dismissed after she took a defensive driving course.

In the meantime, she had lost the GOP primary to Vince Leach. Wadsack then filed suit in federal court accusing the officer and various city officials of targeting her, violating her civil rights, at least in part because of her role in investigating the city, and “because she is a woman and her primary opponent was a man who TPD officials felt could be better controlled than plaintiff.”

Wadsack later dropped her claim, prompting Williams to request that the court order her to pay the city’s legal fees.

She moved to Gilbert after losing her 2024 reelection bid for the state Senate.

Wadsack said she has been working for Turning Point now for more than a year, the organization created by Charlie Kirk that seeks to identify and organize students “to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.” Wadsack said his shooting death “hits extra hard.”