(Photo by Will Stone - KJZZ)

Susan Bitter Smith

Two former state utility regulators think Susan Bitter Smith deserves her day in court.

On Monday, Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked the Arizona Supreme Court to drop conflict of interest charges against Bitter Smith since she has resigned. But former Republican commissioner Bill Mundell and Democrat Renz Jennings filed their own legal brief saying the court should still hear the matter.

Their attorney, Hugh Hallman, said that while Bitter Smith is gone, the legal question of when a regulator has an illegal conflict of interest remains.

"Our brief is not in any way, shape or form arguing one way or the other, merely that the court, now having had been fully briefed on a topic that's had repetitive cases brought, should hear this case and make its decision," Hallman said.

He said the fact that nothing the justices decide would put Bitter Smith back in office is legally irrelevant. The justices are expected to consider the issue on Tuesday.