(Submitted Art)

None of the legislators that referred Proposition137, an anti-democratic ballot measure, are willing to tell you why they did it, and why they think we should vote yes.

So, I will. Here are their arguments: 

1. They believe judges should have lifetime appointments with no accountability, despite the fact that lifetime appointments at the U.S. Supreme Court have undercut our democracy and destroyed reproductive rights. 

2. They oppose abortion. They wrote this law to keep abortion bans in place by removing any accountability or checks on anti-abortion judges. 

3. They believe that laws should be retroactive and wrote Prop 137 to overturn voter decisions around judges. No law should go back in time. 

4. They wrote this measure to be retroactive because they want to protect Arizona Supreme Court Justices Bolick and King, currently up for retention, who decided to ban abortion in Arizona without exception.

5. They believe that voters should not have the right to decide who acts as our judges, despite the fact that voters have had that right in Arizona for over a century. 

These are the reasons they want us to vote yes. I hope voters see through their cynical referral.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.