PHOENIX — State officials are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a court-appointed receiver from taking over Arizona’s prison health system.

In a filing on Wednesday, attorneys for Ryan Thornell, director of the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry, said the prison system has made “tangible progress” in improving physical and mental healthcare for inmates. 

U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver ordered an overhaul in 2023 to correct what she determined were constitutional deficiencies. The changes include doubling spending on inmate health care, adding staff, improving facilities and expanding access to substance-use disorder treatment.

Silver later tapped Annette Chambers-Smith to take control of the system, giving her the authority to hire and fire staffers, terminate contracts, and, with court permission, order the state to spend more money. After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the takeover, Silver last week set Oct. 19 as the date Chambers-Smith assumes control.

The nation’s high court is now the only entity that can reverse the order.

Much of Wednesday’s filing repeats what state attorneys have already argued, first to Silver and, more recently, to the 9th Circuit, including its claim that conditions have improved over the last three years. 

Silver, however, has questioned the rate of progress. She noted that the case dates to 2012 and that state officials have repeatedly promised to do better.

The state’s lawyers don’t dispute that Arizona prisons still fail to meet the legal standards for care. But they argue that Silver should impose some sanction short of the court-ordered takeover of the prison system.

In seeking high court intervention, they also urged the justices to consider the implications of giving a private receiver control of a critical state function while the state continues to appeal Silver’s underlying order. 

Justice Elena Kagan, who handles such special requests on the court’s “shadow docket,” will decide whether to seek a response from the inmates’ attorneys or refer the matter to the full court.

In this last-ditch effort, state attorneys retained Paul Clement, a specialist known for handling cases before the Supreme Court — and who, according to Reuters, bills at $2,650 per hour.

Clement urged the justices to consider the breadth of Silver’s order.

He said it is “far from clear” that precedent allows a federal judge to appoint a receiver over the objections of a state agency, particularly one responsible for “a state correctional agency operating at the apex of state sovereign authority.”

Clement told the court that the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act requires judges to use the “least-intrusive mandates” to ensure compliance with the law and that receivership is “a remedy of last resort.”

He said Silver did not meet that standard when she gave Chambers-Smith control of the prison health care system, allowing the receiver to wrest it from Thornell, whom Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed and the Arizona Senate confirmed.

Clement also argued the takeover could be overturned within months if the 9th Circuit rules for that state. That, he argued, could create “chaos” by putting Chambers-Smith in charge in October, then returning control to Thornell afterward. 

The Supreme Court has not yet set a date for further action on the state’s petition.