PHOENIX - Ruben and Kate Gallego are making a last-ditch effort to keep their divorce records from the public - at least for the time being while they fight a court order to release them.

In a new filing late Tuesday, attorneys for the formerly married couple are telling the Arizona Supreme Court that unless the justices intervene - and quickly - Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper will release the entire file on Friday. What they immediately want is an order from the high court delaying that release until they can argue why much of what's in the file should be shielded from public view.

Attorney Daniel Arellano told the justices that the harm from allowing the release while the couple continues to fight Napper's order is far greater than the harm that would be suffered by The Washington Free Beacon, which sued for release, if there is a delay.

"Wrongly unsealing any portion of the underlying divorce record is irreparable and cannot later be cured if any decision was made in error,'' the attorney wrote in the new pleadings.

"This court, or any court, cannot 'unring' the proverbial bell once previously sealed information is unsealed, '' Arellano told the justices. "Even if this court were to reverse the superior court's decision, the Gallegos' rights to keep parts of the record sealed or redacted would have been rendered moot without a stay.''

At the very least, what the couple wants is time to make their case that much of what is in the file should not be shared with the public.

"This court must issue a stay to allow the Gallegos an opportunity to seek review and for the court to consider the petition,'' Arellano said. "Without a stay, the damage will be immense and irreparable.''

Attorneys for the Beacon, an online conservative website that often attacks Democrats, are expected to ask the justices to spurn the request.

But they already have taken a stance on that question of what harm would occur if release is delayed.  And the election - Ruben is on the ballot in his bid for Senate and Kate wants another term as Phoenix mayor - is a factor, what with early voting actually having started last week.

"The Free Beacon seeks the release of court documents that reflect the character and behavior of a public figure holding and running for federal office, and one official who currently holds executive authority over one of the nation's largest cities,'' the attorneys said in an earlier court filing.

All this stems from Ruben Gallego, already a member of Congress, filing for divorce in 2016 from Kate Gallego.

The congressman acknowledges that occurred while she was close to giving birth. He has never specifically addressed all of the issues that led to the filing but has said in a memoir he was suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome after returning from Iraq.

But while the couple lived in Maricopa County, the case was filed in Yavapai County. And they convinced the trial judge at the time - not Napper - to not only seal the filings but also keep the whole issue off the court docket.

The fact that there was a divorce became apparent years later when Ruben Gallego married Sydney Barron, who was working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and now is employed by the National Association of Realtors.

It was only recently that the Beacon's attorneys said the publication learned of those records and petitioned to have them unsealed.

Napper did agree to allow the couple to keep some items secret, including information about their son and some financial details. But everything else, he declared was subject to public access, even ruling that "the original order sealing the entire file was improper'' under court rules.

Unhappy with the limited redactions Napper would allow, the couple sought relief from the state Court of Appeals. But the pair had no better luck there, with appellate Judge Brian Furuya, writing last week for the unanimous three-judge panel, that Napper did not abuse his discretion when he rejected certain redactions sought by the couple.

"To begin with, the state of Arizona presumes court records are available to the public,'' Furuya wrote. "The burden is on a party opposing a motion to unseal to demonstrate why the records should not be unsealed.''

In this case, the appellate judge wrote, that meant the couple had to show "continuing or new overriding circumstances to prohibit access to court documents or any portions thereof.''

"They did not meet that burden,'' Furuya wrote.

Now, with only the Supreme Court standing in the way of the file being public, Arellano is telling the justices they need to consider the basis of Napper's ruling. He said there are "serious questions'' that need to be answered about what a judge must find before unsealing a filing.

"The Gallegos have stridently maintained that their overriding interest in privacy and safety does not disappear simply because of their jobs as elected officials,'' Arellano is telling the justices. And he said that the couple presented "entirely unrebutted ... evidence showing ongoing threats to elected officials and their minor child.''

Arellano said this isn't about shielding the official activities of either one from the public, saying these records are "entirely unconnected with their official duties.'' And then there's the son "who is not a public official and has strong privacy and safety interests in his own right.''

"Sensitive details about the Gallegos' and their minor child's life stand to be published if the Free Beacon succeeds,'' Arellano said.

Attorneys for the Beacon, in prior legal filings, have indicated it would be acceptable to keep some small portions of what is in the file secret. But they said what the Gallegos asked Napper to keep secret went too far.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.