"AZ Law" is a new, nonprofit journalism effort covering Arizona's courts, legal system and laws. "AZ Law" is now airing on Sun Sounds of Arizona. Our sister website can be found at ArizonasPolitics.com. Your ideas for articles, programs, etc. are welcome, at "Paul.Weich.AZlaw-at-gmail.com".
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
BREAKING: AZ Supreme Court Won't Take 130 Bar Owners' Lawsuit Against Ducey/Christ; Challenge Moves To Superior Court For Injunction Request
AZ Law airs on non-profit Sun Sounds of Arizona, a statewide reading service that provides audio access to printed material for people who cannot hold or read print material due to a disability. If you know someone who could benefit from this 24/7 service, please let them know about member-supported Sun Sounds. And, YOU can donate or listen here.
Previous episodes of AZ Law can be streamed or downloaded here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
BREAKING: Arizona Supreme Court Keeps “Stop Surprise Billing and Protect Patients Act" OFF Ballot, "Smart and Safe Arizona" ON
The Arizona Supreme Court this afternoon ruled that the “Stop Surprise Billing and Protect Patients Act" will be kept off the November 3 ballot, affirming the trial court's ruling invalidating 28,000 signatures when the persons who gathered those signatures failed to show up for the trial.
Yesterday, the Court determined that the Invest In Ed ballot initiative would be placed on the ballot, and the court has challenges to the other two ballot measures to rule on.
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*"AZ Law" includes articles, commentaries and updates about opinions from the Arizona Supreme Court, U.S. Supreme Court, as well as trial and appellate courts, etc.AZ Law airs on non-profit Sun Sounds of Arizona, a statewide reading service that provides audio access to printed material for people who cannot hold or read print material due to a disability. If you know someone who could benefit from this 24/7 service, please let them know about member-supported Sun Sounds. And, YOU can donate or listen here.
Previous episodes of AZ Law can be streamed or downloaded here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Wednesday, August 19, 2020
BREAKING: Supreme Court Reverses, Invest In Ed Initiative Back On The Ballot (READ Decision)
In a major decision, the Arizona Supreme Court has reinstated the Invest In Ed ballot initiative that will place a surcharge on higher income earners to help fund education. The decision reverses the Superior Court opinion that removed the measure on the basis that the 100-word description was not comprehensive enough.
"The Court unanimously finds that the 100-word description did not create a significant danger of confusion or unfairness and reverses the trial court ruling."
AZ Law airs on non-profit Sun Sounds of Arizona, a statewide reading service that provides audio access to printed material for people who cannot hold or read print material due to a disability. If you know someone who could benefit from this 24/7 service, please let them know about member-supported Sun Sounds. And, YOU can donate or listen here.
Previous episodes of AZ Law can be streamed or downloaded here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Friday, August 7, 2020
NEW: Close the Pandora's Box You Opened In the 2018 Invest In Ed Case, Arizona Supreme Court Told (In Molera v. Invest In Ed, Part Deux); READ Today's Briefs
The Arizona Supreme Court should close the Pandora's Box it opened in the 2018 battle over Invest In Ed. That's what the proponents told the Justices today in their Opening Brief. For their part, the opponents of the measure also appealed in an effort to have the Supreme Court declare the incentives offered to the paid petition circulators violated Arizona law.
Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury decided that this year's model of the Invest In Ed ballot measure should be thrown out because the required 100-word summary did not properly describe all of the provisions of the measure designed to raise monies for education salaries by surcharging taxable income over $250,000.
Coury's opinion points out five provisions in the measure's language that he believed should have also been included in the 100-word summary. As today's Brief points out, it required 127 words for him to describe those provisions. Proponents suggest that if the Supreme Court affirms the lower court, it will effectively eliminate Arizonans' constitutional right to propose and pass laws through ballot measures.
"The result, if not overturned, would be an unconstitutional and untenable new standard under A.R.S. § 19-102(A): (1) an initiative’s “principal provisions” are whatever a challenger can imagine, (2) initiative proponents must limit themselves to simple laws able to be fully described in 100 words or less, and (3) even then, proponents’descriptions must use language preferred by their opponents in a quintessential example of compelled speech. It is an impossible standard to meet, and conflicts with article IV, pt. 1, § 1 of the Arizona Constitution (“Article IV”) and the First Amendment."
The contents of the 100-word summary became the focus of all of the challenges to ballot measures this year, following the Supreme Court's decision removing Invest In Ed from the 2018 ballot. In that case, the Court found that the summary improperly described how much individuals' taxes would go up.
The opponents, supported by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and others, focus their attention on limiting how future ballot measure campaigns can pay their circulators. In 2014, the Arizona Legislature began restricting how circulators could be paid for gathering petition signatures - only for ballot measures, not for candidates - and then came up with a law that prohibits paying them per signature.
Their appeal here is challenging creative promotions offered by the petition circulating company. The Supreme Court's ruling on this may end up setting some parameters on what is an acceptable way to incentivize circulators without running afoul of the law.
Thursday, August 6, 2020
BREAKING: PLEASE Keep Gyms Closed "In the Midst of the Unprecedented COVID-19 Pandemic"! Governor Ducey Appeals To A Higher Court (READ pleadings)
BREAKING, "DEMOLISHED": Conservative Groups Lose Appeal of Constitutional Claim Against Arizona's "Stop Dark Money" Measure (READ Opinion)
The Arizona Free Enterprise Club and Center for Arizona Policy today lost their appeal claiming that the Voters' Right to Know Act (&quo...
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Thousands of people have already voted in the July 30 primary, and presumably, many have voted for Kari Lake to be the Republican nominee fo...
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UPDATE, 3/28, 7am: " BREAKING UPDATE: Judge Says Kari Lake Lost "All Rights To Litigate the Merits" of the Defamation Case, A...
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BREAKING UPDATE, 3/21: The Real Reason *WHY* Kari Lake Late-Filed Request To Expedite SCOTUS Appeal To Ban Arizona Vote-Counting Machines (...