Even though appellate court judges deal out precedent-setting rulings statewide, those judges are elected only by those in their areas.
With the aid of former Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, the Goldwater Institute is representing four Arizonans in Knight, et al. v. Fontes. The case, brought directly to the state Supreme Court, seeks to make appellate court judicial retention elections a statewide matter instead of split into divisions.
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Republican precinct committeemen in Legislative District 23 voted unanimously Wednesday evening to censure 24 Republicans for their roles in the ouster of State Representative Liz Harris (R-Chandler). Eighteen were state representatives who voted to expel Harris, three (including one of the 18) served on the House Ethics Committee, which found that Harris had violated House Rule 1 prohibiting impugning other members, and the other four were the Republican members of the Maricopa County Supervisors (MCBOS) who chose her replacement.
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Among the nearly 100 bills delivered to Governor Katie Hobbs (D) by the Arizona State House on Monday is one relating to judge retainment elections.
House Bill (HB) 2757, sponsored by House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria), addresses judges from the Arizona Court of Appeals (ACOA), which has two divisions, one in Phoenix and the other in Tucson. The ACOA comprises 28 judges, with 19 in Division 1 and nine in Division 2. Under current law, these judges are first appointed by the governor for an initial term of two years, but after that point, judges can only retain their position if approved by the public in an election. However, the only citizens who can vote to keep an ACOA judge are those within the court’s division. So, when a Division 2 judge is up for election, only Pima, Pinal, Cochise, Santa Cruz, Greenlee, Graham, and Gila County residents can make that decision.
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Arizona State Representative Steve Montenegro (R-Goodyear) announced Tuesday that he is rescinding a complaint he filed against the City of Tempe with Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) after alleviating his concerns.
“Based on information and written assurances I have received within the last 24 hours, I hereby withdraw my request for an investigation of the City of Tempe’s Ordinance No. 02022.56, Ordinance No. 02022.57, Resolution No. R2022.l 70, and§ 12.9 and§ 17 of the Development and Disposition Agreement (“Agreement”) between the City and Bluebird Development LLC (“Bluebird”),” Montenegro wrote in a new letter emailed to the press.
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The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) joined in the legal battle between Arizona Christian University (ACU) and the Washington Elementary School District (WESD), arguing that ACU was discriminated against based on its religious beliefs.
“A private organization like ACU should be free to espouse its beliefs without fear of retaliation from the government. And K-12 students should not have to go without teachers simply because their school board refuses to hire qualified candidates based on those candidates’ perceived personal beliefs and convictions,” according to the GI.
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The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) released a report Tuesday detailing a potentially alarming aspect of some public state university’s hiring processes, requiring faculty to pledge support for progressive ideologies.
“Universities should be safe havens for free expression, but in Arizona and across the country, progressives are using diversity statement requirements as a political litmus test to enforce intellectual and political conformity in support of leftist dogmas like Critical Race Theory and CRT-based terminology such as ‘intersectional personal identities,'” according to an email from the GI.
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Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Buckeye Elementary School District (BESD) and Superintendent Kristi Wilson for alleged “additional compensation.”
“Transparency and accountability are not electives in our public school districts,” said Brnovich in a press release. “Hardworking taxpayers expect these public funds to be expended in accordance with the law and the best interest of students.”
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Pima County officials violated Arizona state law by giving a company a multi-million dollar subsidy, an Arizona appellate court ruled recently.
The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of a deal made between Pima County and World View, a company that says it will take passengers on rides to the upper stratosphere using high-altitude balloons.
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The Arizona-based Goldwater Institute (GI) announced Thursday that it had achieved victory in the state appellate court against Pima County on behalf of taxpayers for a scandal involving World View Enterprises (WVE).
“Arizona’s Constitution is crystal clear: Taxpayers shouldn’t have to shoulder the burden for corporate welfare. Yesterday’s ruling reinforces this edict, letting hardworking Arizonans off the hook for a ‘balloondoggle’ of epic proportions that sought to gamble with their own money,” said GI Vice President for Legal Affairs Timothy Sandefur in a statement emailed to the Arizona Sun Times.
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The Arizona Republican Party, along with its secretary Yvonne Cahill, has filed a lawsuit against Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs over more actions she has taken that appear to be making it easier to commit voter fraud. The AZGOP’s Application for Issuance of Writ Under Exercise of Original Jurisdiction asks the court to compel Hobbs to include signature verification procedures in the election procedures manual and remove the language she added authorizing the set up of unmonitored ballot drop boxes, and challenges “no-excuse” early ballots as violating the Arizona Constitution.
AZGOP Chair Kelli Ward, who has been out on the forefront combating election fraud since the 2020 presidential election, told The Arizona Sun Times, “We want to make sure that our elections are secure so we can restore voter confidence and strengthen our representative republic.”
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Arizona Corporation Commissioners Jim O’Connor and Justin Olson want to hold a meeting to vote on whether utilities, known as Public Service Corporations, can force their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. They sent a letter to their fellow commissioners on November 18 expressing their concerns.
O’Connor and Olson cite the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision on November 12 putting a stay on the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees. They quoted the opinion where it said the mandate “raises constitutional concerns” and “grossly exceeds [its] statutory authority.”
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The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to accept an appeal from Arizona Attorney Mark Brnovich in his lawsuit against Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) challenging a deal they made with hotel developers letting them use school property, which allows them to avoid property taxes.
Brnovich said shortly after filing the lawsuit, “ABOR shouldn’t be subsidizing out-of-state billionaires. Worst of all, ABOR is depriving K-12 schools and community colleges millions of dollars in property tax revenue that must be made up by other taxpayers by placing the hotel on property tax exempt land.”
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The City of Tucson is joining two lawsuits against the Arizona Legislature with amicus curiae briefs. The first is a lawsuit filed on August 12 by the Arizona School Boards Association, the Arizona Education Association and other education organizations and activists over HB 2898, SB 1824, and SB 1825, which prohibit mask and vaccine mandates, ban Critical Race Theory, and establish a legislative committee to review the findings of the state Senate review of the November 2020 election results in Maricopa County.
The second is a lawsuit filed by the City of Phoenix over HB 2893, which sets the qualifications for members of civilian review boards including requiring training. It also allows a legislator to submit a request to the Arizona Attorney General for an investigation of “any written policy, written rule or written regulation adopted by any agency, department or other entity of the county, city or town.”
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The City of Phoenix filed a lawsuit against the State of Arizona on Tuesday, contending that new legislation regulating police review boards and expanding the Attorney General’s powers of investigation violates the state constitution. HB 2893 requires that the members of police misconduct boards be partially composed of police officers, but the City set up its own review board a month before the legislation was passed which says police officers or former police officers shall not sit on its police review board.
Similarly, the City objects to the qualifications laid out in the law for civilian review boards; the City merely wants non-City employees serving on it, but the legislation requires that board members have some training. And finally, the City objects to a provision which states that when requested by a legislator, the Attorney General may investigate laws or rules passed by lower levels of government that appear to violate state law, and withhold state funding if a violation is found.
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The Arizona Free Enterprise Club filed a lawsuit recently against Invest in Arizona over the organization’s attempt to get three referendums on the Arizona ballot that would reverse Arizona’s recently passed tax cuts. The lawsuit contends that since the tax cuts “provide for, and directly relate to, the generation of revenues that are remitted to the general fund and appropriated to various agencies, departments and instrumentalities of the state government,” they cannot be the subject of a referendum and are unconstitutional.
AFEC President Scot Mussi, who is one of the plaintiffs, said, “All three bills directly provide for the support and maintenance of the state, were key aspects of the state’s budget, and therefore are not referable by Invest in Arizona.”
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