Arizona State Law Journal Blog

Special Edition: 1L Blog Contest Winner By Maya Dominguez.  Anti-Immigration Laws and Racial Profiling Most people condemn racial discrimination, but many fail to realize that anti-immigration laws are based on many of the same principles. Immigration policies are closely tied to racial biases and issues of racial and ethnic profiling. In Arizona, the proof is in the state’s history. When SB 1070 was passed in 2010, there was a stark increase in the racial profiling of Latinos regardless of their immigration status. Debates and concerns over the immigration crisis still run high, even though the number of encounters between immigration enforcement and immigrants on the Arizona border and country-wide has decreased. Now, bills are being proposed in the Arizona House and Senate that seem to be repeating history.   HB 2843—A…

Special Edition: 1L Blog Contest Winner By Ethan Schafer.  Partisan Redistricting Violates Democratic Values Partisan redistricting, also called gerrymandering, involves artfully “cracking” and “packing” voters into federal and state legislative districts so the political party in power can draw lines to their advantage. Redistricting has two rules: (1) districts must be around equal population size and (2) districts cannot be unfair racial gerrymanders. Outside of some state-specific rules, that’s it. Most state legislatures draw their federal House of Representative maps, a process that has numerous problems.  Partisan gerrymandering discourages voting, dilutes the voters’ strength, entrenches political power within one party, and is inconsistent with democratic values. Members of the House of Representatives indirectly get to choose who votes for them through back-alley deals with state officials, rather than allowing individuals…

By Olivia Lechnir. St. Isidore and Arizona’s Penchant for ChartersTwo lawsuits are currently pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court and District Court of Oklahoma County regarding St. Isidore Virtual Catholic Charter School, seeking to block the school’s opening for the 2024-2025 school year. If St. Isidore prevails, it will become the first religious charter school to operate in the Nation. This will have large implications not only for the educational landscape across the country, but specifically Arizona, the Nation’s leading state in charter school usage. Arizona has already shown great interest in exploring alternatives to traditional public education, such as charter schools and school choice programs. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, about 21% of Arizona’s public school students attend charter schools. Arizona also has the country’s largest voucher…

By Seth Young. Is Arizona running out of water?  Based on recent headlines about Arizona, a fair guess would be true.  Over the past year, two incidents have fueled the misconception that Arizona is running out of water: 1) the moratorium on certain permits to build in the Phoenix area because of a groundwater shortage and 2) the Rio Verde water crisis.  As a direct result, a growing sentiment has emerged that life in the Sonoran Desert is unsustainable, and it is “concerning” that Americans have attempted to settle the area. Nevertheless, a closer look at both issues reveals that Arizona is not running out of water but is encountering the age-old pitfall of poor planning.Arizona Water Law From 34,000 FeetArizona has a remarkably well-adapted legal regime for its water supply.…

By Alexandra Van der Gaag. National Opioid Lawsuits and SettlementsSince 2014, attorneys general across the nation have been filing lawsuits against drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and other associated parties in an attempt to combat the opioid epidemic and recover related costs. In these suits, plaintiffs claim that “drug manufacturers and distributors improperly marketed and distributed opioids to states, cities, and towns across the United States” while failing to properly caution the public about the associated risks. This improper marketing and distribution led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of US citizens.In July 2021, attorneys general in 14 states reached a settlement agreement with Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, in which the manufacturer and distributors would pay the government $26 billion and comply with certain injunctive remedies. Pursuant…

By Natalie Heun.  Solar energy is booming in Arizona. The sunny Grand Canyon State consistently ranks among the highest in the country for most solar energy potential and is on track to install over 10,000 megawatts by 2028. The continued growth of solar energy is important in mitigating the effects of climate change. The United States’ continued reliance on fossil fuels for energy production has made the fossil-fuel-based electric power sector the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country, amounting to a whopping 25% of our total emissions. Switching from fossil fuels to clean renewables like solar can help greatly reduce these numbers at a time when we need it most. Therefore, supporting solar development in one of the sunniest states in the country makes good sense. However,…

By Kyndal Pirtle Calhoon. Imagine that your doctor, unbeknownst to you, had once operated on the wrong limb during a surgery. Or, showed up to the office while intoxicated. Or sexually harassed, fraudulently billed, or violated the privacy of a patient. Would you, as a member of the general Arizona public, deserve ready access to such information? According to one Arizona legislator, perhaps not. In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare legislation, Arizona has recently made headlines with the introduction—and subsequent stalling—of House Bill 2312 (H.B. 2312). The bill addresses a critical aspect of the medical field: exposing doctor misconduct.H.B. 2312, introduced by Representative Patty Contreras and co-sponsored by nine other Representatives, aims to enhance transparency and accountability within the medical profession. Specifically, the bill seeks to extend the period during which…

By Kyra Haas.  The United States Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado may drastically change the federal government’s involvement (or lack thereof) in how states form agreements with other states regarding water resources.  A deadline looms large over Arizona and the other six Colorado River Basin states to devise new plans for the Colorado River, and Texas v. New Mexico threatens to inject unnecessary uncertainty into ongoing negotiations. The current rules for how Colorado River water is allocated are set to expire in 2026. Unless the states come together and put forward an agreement for federal approval, they run the risk of the federal government making decisions for them. If the Supreme Court allows the federal government to undo the interstate agreement at issue in…

By Brock Meyer. Arizona, few may know, has a legacy within the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement: it’s the birthplace of the tricolor trans rights flag, designed by longtime Phoenix resident and trans woman, Monica Helms. Regardless of the flag’s fame, Arizona’s LGBTQ+ protections are limited, especially within the realm of conversion therapy.Conversion therapy, which seeks to convert LGBTQ+ individuals to straight and cisgender identities, involves draconian medical practices categorically rejected by the professional medical community. State legislatures throughout the U.S. have enacted conversion therapy bans to protect youth from these harmful practices. Interest groups have met this expansion with constitutional challenges decrying government overreach impinging citizens’ freedom of speech. On June 27th, 2023, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs passed Executive Order 2023-13, “Protecting Young People from Conversion Therapy.” As Arizona develops its…

By Abbie Conrad.  In a unanimous decision earlier this year, the Arizona House Education Committee approved House Bill 2400, a bill that would change Arizona’s current school safety grant program. The bill’s provisions originally expanded the resources supported by the program to include “school safety officers, school psychologists, and the costs of purchasing safety technology, safety training and infrastructure improvement for school campuses.” However, there is recent controversy around an amendment to the bill added by the committee’s chair, Republican Representative Beverly Pingerelli, which excludes school psychologists from the lists of eligible grant recipients.  Arizona School Safety Program Arizona’s school safety program is codified in Arizona Revised Statute § 15-154. According to the statute, the “program is established within the department of education to support, promote and enhance safe and…