In the waning moments of a candidate forum Tuesday night, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terri Pickens took aim at independent candidate John Stegner.

The topic: a title dispute — and a 2021 Supreme Court opinion that called one of Pickens’ legal arguments brazen.

“That decision had such an impact on my career that I wanted to give up the practice of law,” Pickens, a trial lawyer, told an audience of about 150 people at a League of Women Voters forum.

She then directed her attention to Stegner, who served on the Supreme Court from 2018 to 2023.

“The person who wrote that decision is sitting right next to me,” Pickens continued. “When I talk about, ‘We need a leader for this moment,’ we need a leader who will respect everyone.”

The comments came during Pickens’ closing statement. Stegner had already delivered his closing statement; he did not respond, and drank from a bottle of water. Still on stage, the two candidates shook hands at the end of the forum.

So, what does the court opinion say? And what does Stegner say?

On page 30 of a 31-page opinion, Stegner criticizes Pickens for trying to get the Supreme Court to consider legal issues still before District Court.

“(Pickens) brazenly sought to have this Court address an issue that awaited trial,” he wrote. “(Her) efforts were frivolous, unreasonable, and without foundation.”

In a phone interview Wednesday, Stegner defended his choice of words and noted that his four fellow justices signed the opinion.

“It was a unanimous court that approved that explicit language, and not only was it brazen then, I think it’s brazen in retrospect,” Stegner said.

More reading: Click here for an in-depth analysis on the governor’s race.