2019

David Gartner In 2018, voters in five different states passed successful initiatives that made it harder for politicians to choose their own districts and easier for independent voices to shape the redistricting process. This unprecedented transformation in the redistricting process would not have happened without the Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. That decision confirmed the constitutionality of Arizona’s own Independent Redistricting Commission and created an outlet for citizens frustrated with dysfunctional governance and unresponsive legislators to initiate reforms through the initiative process. All of these 2018 initiatives created or expanded state redistricting commissions which are to some degree insulated from the direct sway of the majority party in their respective legislatures. Full Article

Angelika Orletsky Doebler In January 2015, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey implemented the Classrooms First Initiative with the aims “to modernize school finance code, ensuring adequate funding is made available for teachers and classroom instruction.” Recognizing that comprehensive finance reform had not occurred for “generations,” a council convened to “build a longterm strategy” and “multi-year policy initiatives and implementation plans” to reform Arizona’s school finance code. After two years of meetings and research, the council issued a list of recommendations for reform, among which Recommendation Twelve specified “[c]onduct an actuarial cost study on special education and identify ways to address adequacy of funding based on study results.” However, the group did not develop an actual funding formula in order to enact the explicit recommendations. Recommendation Twelve has not been enacted, nor…

John Copeland Nagle February 26, 2019, was the one hundredth anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park. The Congress that established the park reported that “[t]he Grand Canyon has long been recognized as one of the greatest scenic regions of the world.” It is no wonder that the Grand Canyon became our fifteenth national park. Full Article

Karen Bradshaw In the windowless conference room of a drab building, roughly thirty people were waiting for a meeting to start. Several men sat in a tight bunch at a far end of the table, all wearing short-sleeve button down shirts, dark jeans, and work boots. These were the foresters. In the middle of the rectangular arrangement of tables sat a clump of wildlife biologists from the Forest Service. Two Forest Supervisors sat on opposite sides of the room, both in uniform. A collaboration expert in khakis and a polo shirt was nonchalantly checking his phone under the table. A researcher made her way around the room, touching the shoulder of various people as she spoke to them, her dolman sleeves fluttering behind her. After several minutes of casting furtive…

Shawn E. Fields On August 8, 2015, the Arizona newspaper Arizona Republic ran a story with the following headline: Celebration or Concern? We’re No. 1 for Guns. The story reported that, “[f]or the third straight year, Arizona was ranked [the] best state in the nation for gun owners by Guns & Ammo magazine, which praised the state’s self-defense and carry laws, its shooting sports and strong gun culture.” The balance of the article considered the well-worn debate between gun rights advocates and gun control advocates reflected in the story’s title: was this ranking to be hailed as a victory for the Second Amendment and responsible gun ownership, or denounced as the reason why “Arizona is the best state for criminals to get access to guns”? Full Article

Madeline Mayer High court decisions often result in unintended consequences, many of which courts either never contemplated or failed to fully appreciate. This Comment highlights some of the unintended consequences of the Arizona Supreme Court decision State v. Sisco and suggests several legislative solutions. Full Article