'Boohoo you got a ticket': Trump-backed Arizona senator calls for legislative immunity for speeding

Far-right state Senator and Trump supporter Mark Finchem has cited the Arizona Constitution to try to get out of a speeding ticket. But the clause protects lawmakers from arrest — not a citation.

When Finchem got written up for apparently driving 48 miles an hour in a 30 mile an hour zone in January, he wrote to the Prescott, Arizona police chief on Arizona Senate letterhead.

“I am sure you know, and maybe the officer does not, that the Arizona legislature is in session. Under Article 4, Part 2, Section 6 of the Arizona Constitution, ‘Members of the legislature shall be privileged from arrest in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, and they shall not be subject to any civil process during the session of the legislature, nor for fifteen days next before the commencement of each session,’” he wrote, adding an underline.

READ MORE: Senators hotly debate SCOTUS immunity ruling in contentious hearing: 'Dangerous decision'

“I ask that the citation be voided and stricken from the record,” he wrote.

But the clause is irrelevant. “He’s not arrested and that’s very important to understand. The issuance of a citation is not an arrest,” Attorney Tom Ryan told Arizona's Family (KTVK/KPHO).

“Boohoo you got a ticket. It’s a civil citation. Grow up, be a man… be a real Arizona citizen, Senator Finchem,” Ryan said.

Arizona's Family Political Editor Dennis Welch called Finchem “one of the most controversial politicians in Arizona over the past four or five years.”

READ MORE: Why these 2 Trump convictions 'will not be disturbed' by immunity ruling: legal expert

Finchem was also a vocal denier of the 2020 presidential election, with Politico calling him “a poster child for election deniers” and a “conspiracy theorist.” In 2022, Trump endorsed Finchem in a failed bid to become Arizona secretary of state, calling him “the kind of fighter we need to turn Arizona and our Country around.”

In the end, the city of Prescott did ask the courts to dismiss the citation without prejudice, although the city could refile the case after the legislative session, Welch said.