Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas ramped up the fight against county leaders on Tuesday, announcing a federal racketeering lawsuit against "leading" judges, the Board of Supervisors, and a private law firm.

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Thomas' office just put out a news release about the lawsuit, saying he'll give more details at a 2 p.m. news conference:

The news conference will outline a federal racketeering lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors, leading Superior Court judges, and a private law firm shared by the Board and Court, alleging the defendants have conspired illegally to block criminal investigations and prosecutions of themselves, particularly those related to the new $341 million Superior Court Tower and Supervisor Donald Stapley Jr.

Sounds serious, no?

As we noted in our feature article this week on Stapley, the county attorney and Sheriff Joe Arpaio are hardly innocent bystanders in this whole mess. They have apparent ethical and legal conflicts of interest in going after this group of county leaders and judges.

But maybe a federal lawsuit is exactly what's called for here. Both sides will be able to present their case before an ostensibly neutral judge -- and may the least unsavory county official win.