Arizona State Law Journal Blog

By Brianna Pachuilo. Introduction The Arizona Supreme Court recently decided in State v. Arevalo that an Arizona statute that increases criminal penalties based upon gang affiliation is unconstitutional. While many states have statutes that heighten charges for crimes committed to support gang activity, the Arizona

By Alexandra Nathe. Every lawyer has a duty to promote equal access to our justice system and advocate for improvements to the law. The Model Rules of Professional Ethics were created to codify this and other legal duties while acting as a guide to ensure

“Original Golfos” by El Chico Iwana is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 By Kole Lyons. Gangs have been documented in Arizona as early as the 1930s. Since then, gangs have increased in number and become involved in more criminal activities around the state. As violent

This photo by luizfilipe is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 By Madison Leake. On August 27, 2020, Tom Hatten, owner of Mountainside Fitness, opened the gym’s doors to the public despite the fact that the application to do so had been explicitly denied. This act

By Alexandra Eagle. In the last few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred heated debate over how best to ensure safe and equitable access to voting. Not only has the current public health crisis exacerbated many of the social concerns already implicated in discussions about voters’

This image is taken directly from the Creative Commons page: “176: Empty bar” by niseag03 is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 By Andrew Jacobsohn.  In an effort to combat the surge of COVID-19 cases in Arizona over the summer, GovernorDoug Ducey (R) on June 29

By Abby Dockum. In Iran, 85,000 prisoners—nearly half the prison population—have been released in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In China, after a guard showed symptoms of COVID-19, two thousand prisoners were tested and two hundred tested positive. In at least two other countries, prisoners

By Caitlin Doak. Background In 2000, a jury in Oklahoma convicted Patrick Murphy, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, of murder. After seeking post-conviction relief in Oklahoma state courts, Murphy petitioned the Eastern District of Oklahoma for a writ of habeas corpus. The district

By Harman Dhanoa. Background Standing on U.S. soil, Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa shot and killed Sergio Hernández, an unarmed 15-year-old Mexican boy on Mexican soil. Hernández’s parents sued Agent Mesa in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleging that a

By Madelaine Bauer. Background In the wake of an upcoming election, the Trump campaign has taken action and filed libel lawsuits against both the New York Times and the Washington Post. In February 2020, the Trump campaign began their suits by filing against the New

By Delilah Cassidy. Living on a golf course seems like a dream: waking up to the smell of freshly cut grass, sitting on the porch drinking lemonade during the Arizona spring. But since the Great Recession, what was once a dream for those living on

By Cory Bernard. The country’s largest competitive wholesale electricity market recently filed a request for rehearing in response to a December 2019 order of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) setting a price floor for new entrants to the market. The Minimum Offer Price Rule

By Jake Abrahamian. Background Later this year, the Supreme Court is set to decide USPTO v. Booking.com B.V. in a ruling that will determine whether a generic name can be transformed into a protectable trademark when followed by a top-level domain (“.com”). The issue arose

By Tyler S. Woods, J.D. Candidate, 2021. The Transformative Use Test In Brown v. Entm’t Merchants Ass’n, the Supreme Court confirmed that video games––like books, plays, and movies––are works of art that enjoy First Amendment protection. But this protection is not without limit. Although video

By Benjamin Shattuck. The Fifth and Ninth Circuits are currently split as to whether victims of cross-border shootings can bring damages claims against the U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot them. In Hernandez v. Mesa, the Fifth Circuit held that the victim did not have

By Victoria Romine. What is Genetic Genealogy? Ever since the 2018 capture of Joseph DeAngelo, California’s infamous Golden State Killer, genetic genealogy has been used to solve hundreds of unsolved crimes. Law enforcement uses genetic genealogy by submitting DNA from an unsolved crime to a

By Emiley Pagrabs. In Reynolds v. Sims (1964), the Supreme Court stated: “The right to vote freely for the candidate of one’s choice is of the essence of a democratic society, and any restrictions on that right strikes at the heart of representative government.” However,

By John Oliver. Background Kobe Bryant’s death not only shocked the sports world but also the nation. Kobe was a professional basketball player who entered the National Basketball Association (“NBA”) straight out of high school in 1996. Kobe enjoyed enormous success throughout his twenty-year career,

By Samantha Orwoll. Fast Fashion Industry Fast fashion brands, such as Forever 21, ZARA, and ASOS, create a nearly constant stream of clothes. The brands promise the latest trends at affordable prices. Rather than create seasonal collections, they produce new offerings weekly and have thousands

By Alanna Ostby. Background On October 16, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Mathena v. Malvo—a case rising out of a string of sniper-style shootings in 2002 that killed twelve individuals and injured six others in the D.C. metropolitan area. One of the

By Allie Karpurk. What is the Equal Rights Amendment? On January 27, 2020, Virginia became the thirty-eighth state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (“ERA” or “Amendment”). The ERA was written by the National Women’s Party in 1923 following the Party’s successful fight for women’s

By Austin Moylan.With the January 2020 release of the film Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson is becoming a household name. But as the general public becomes acquainted with his impressive resume for perhaps the first time, those in the criminal defense community have their eyes set

By Sara Kizer. Ten states received approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to impose Medicaid work requirements on beneficiaries to incentivize work and community engagement among non-disabled, non-elderly adult Medicaid beneficiaries. Through these requirements, states established minimum hours of working or

By Nathan Lilly. Background Monique Lozoya was sitting in the middle seat on the second-to-last row of a Delta Airlines flight traveling from Minneapolis to Los Angeles when she felt the passenger behind her kicking her seat. She tried ignoring it, as many of us

By Yinan Guo.Maybe you have noticed that, for the past month or so, companies have been sending out emails regarding their updated privacy policy. Chances are you ignored them without taking a look, like every time before when you checked the “I agree” box. What’s

By Marissa Gibbens.In its 2020 cycle, the Supreme Court will review the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in United States Patent and Trademark Office v. Booking.com B.V. The Court will decide whether the addition of the term “.com” can turn a generic term (such

By George Gould. Background The Arizona Supreme Court has recently decided another case—Trisha A. v. Department of Child Safety—on a controversial law in Arizona juvenile courts. In juvenile court, there exists a mechanism for accelerating severance procedures. When accelerated, a termination hearing is transmuted, by

By Avery Topel. In the summer of 2019, an animal advocacy group conducted an undercover investigation of Fair Oaks Farms in Indiana. Secretly recorded video revealed employees beating calves with metal rebar, abusing cattle with hot branding irons, and denying cows veterinary care. After the

By Daniel Restrepo. As positive attitudes toward breastfeeding have increased in the last decade, so too have the number of breastfeeding discrimination lawsuits. However, there is uncertainty as to what rights mothers have to pumping in the workplace. Courts are split as to the scope

By Lauren Malm. The Establishment Clause and the Lemon Test The First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Commonly known as the “Establishment Clause,” this clause prohibits government promotion or entanglement with religion and religious organizations. While government

By Alexandra Klein.In August of 2019, the Ninth Circuit held in United States v. Begay that second-degree murder was not a “crime of violence.” You read that right. Second-degree murder is categorically not a crime of violence. The Facts In 2013, Randly Begay was arguing

By Sierra Brown. Case Study: Phillip B. v. McKay In 2018, Phillip B. worked as a caregiver at New Horizons, a group home for male children. On July 6, 2018, a fifteen-year-old resident of the home called the Arizona Department of Child Safety (“DCS”), alleging

By Sterling Johnson. What is the proper method of allocating liability where A and B owe contract duties to C under separate contracts, and each breaches independently, and it is not reasonably possible to make a division of the damage caused by the separate breaches?

By Ava Esler. Background Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) was implemented by President Obama as a means to provide work authorization and prevent the removal of young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Since DACA was enacted by executive order in

By Tyson Woodford. Background For me, O’Bannon v. NCAA (previously mentioned on this blog here and here) was a landmark case that impacted my daily life. Sure, it dealt with the NCAA profiting from the image and likeness of its uncompensated student athletes, but to

By Jay Dosad. Background In 2011, two hundred female inmates in an Illinois prison were marched to a beauty salon and a bathroom off of a gym. In full view of male and female cadets, correctional officers, and civilians, as guards screamed insults and derogatory

By Caitlin White. On September 9, 2019, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the Northern District Court of California’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction forbidding LinkedIn from denying plaintiff hiQ access to publicly available LinkedIn member profiles. As a result of HiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn

By Delilah Cassidy. Taylor Swift is one of the best-selling singer-songwriters of all time. At fifteen, she signed her first record deal with Big Machine Label Group (“Big Machine”) and created six albums with the label. Upon expiration, Swift signed with Universal Music Group (“UMG”).

By KC Hooker. In May 2019, the Supreme Court decided Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt, which overturned Nevada v. Hall and held that citizens cannot sue a state in another state’s courts. The decision was not surprising given the Court’s expansion of sovereign

By Christian Fernandez. What is Arizona’s compulsory arbitration program? Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution where an independent third party hears the case and determines the result. Arizona courts have adopted a compulsory arbitration program for all civil lawsuits that meet the requirements

By Kacie Donovan. Data breaches and resulting amounts of compromised personal information are increasing rapidly. The FBI has said “[T]here are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be. And even they are converging into one category: companies

By Abby Dockum. Over the past several years, products containing cannabidiol—better known as CBD—have spread across the shelves of grocery stores and pharmacies. Sales of CBD products are expected to surpass $5 billion dollars in 2019, up 700% from 2018. This may be attributed in

By Caitlin Doak. No published Arizona opinion provides for an implied right to cure. However, a recent unpublished Court of Appeals opinion suggests that Arizona is inching closer to adopting an implied right to cure absent a contractual right to cure. In Fisher v. Rondo

By Harman Dhanoa. On October 7th, 2019, the justices returned to the bench for what has been called “the most significant Supreme Court term in a decade.” The docket of 59 cases is set to cover high-profile matters including abortion, gun rights, LGBT+ rights, presidential

By Chase Colwell. By 1986, it was clear that computers were becoming an inextricable component of modern society. However, this new and developing technology was ripe for abuse in various ways. At the time, there were not any adequate legal remedies for victims of these

By Madelaine Bauer. For many years, there has been a crucial debate circulating the college athletics world—whether college athletes should be compensated, specifically, for their name, image or likeness. Circling back to 2009, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) faced their first uproar of the controversy on college athlete compensation with

Jessica Berch, Lecturer, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law; Member of the Arizona Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence The Arizona Rules of Evidence largely mirror the Federal Rules of Evidence, and Arizona state courts often look to federal precedent in

By Mike Brown. In October 2001, Lezmond Mitchell confessed to the murder of sixty-three-year-old Alyce Slim and her nine-year-old granddaughter. A jury convicted Mitchell and sentenced him to die for his crimes. Now, eighteen years after the killings, the Ninth Circuit has stayed Mitchell’s execution.

By Cory Bernard. Post-hearing briefs filed last week in a matter before the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), plus a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, highlight fierce debates over a key weapon in solar developers’ arsenal. The Public Utility Regulatory Policies

By Marissa Gibbens. On March 28, 2019, the Supreme Court of Arizona issued the opinion for City of Surprise v. Arizona Corporation Commission and the decision impacts more than just the parties involved. Indeed, the court held that while the Arizona Corporation Commission has statutory