Category: Arizona State Law Journal Blog

By Michael O’Neill. History of the Art The United States Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in the case of Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Found., 862 F.3d 951 (9th Cir. 2017). Cassirer’s grandmother owned Rue Saint Honoré, après-midi, effet de pluie, oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm (1897) by Camille Pissarro (the “Painting”) from 1926 until 1939 when she was forced to surrender the painting in order to obtain an exit visa to flee Nazi Germany. This painting was later sold at auction in 1943 to an unknown buyer and resurfaced in the United States in 1951. In the United States, various private parties owned the painting until it went up for auction again in 1976. That year, a Swiss art collector purchased the Painting in New York and proceeded…

By Turner Smith. The National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has again directly challenged the NCAA’s notions of amateurism. It leveled the latest attack on September 29, 2021. Jennifer A. Abruzzo, the NLRB’s General Counsel, issued a memorandum which emphatically declared that “scholarship football players at private colleges and universities, or other similarly situated Players at Academic Institutions, are employees under the [National Labor Relations] Act.” Abruzzo then took aim at the term “student-athletes,” arguing that the term is a misclassification that “lead[s] [athletes] to believe that they do not have statutory protections [in] violation of . . . the Act.” The NCAA wasted no time in issuing a pointed response to the memo. Though brief, the September 30, 2021 statement asserted that “college athletes are students who compete against other…

By Oscar Porter. According to the Arizona Restaurant Association, the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out around 1,000 to 1,200 Arizona restaurants in 2020. Last year, in order to help restaurants stay afloat, Governor Ducey relaxed rules around serving to-go cocktails, specifically for restaurants. Now, restaurants have convinced state lawmakers to codify a version of these new rules. As of October 1, 2021, HB 2773 allows restaurants to sell cocktails to-go if they meet certain conditions. While the new law has significant support from the restaurant industry, it has been met with opposition arguing that the benefits to restaurants come at the expense of bars and liquor stores. BACKGROUND: GOVERNOR’S ORDER In March of 2020, to help struggling restaurants that couldn’t serve customers in-person due to the lockdown Governor Ducey issued an…

By Matthew Adler. On October 1, 2021, Arizona lost 18% of its annual Colorado River water allocation. This cut, amounting to 512,000 acre-feet of water per year (equivalent to over 150 billion gallons), is a result of the Department of the Interior’s recent declaration of a water shortage on the Colorado River. The declaration followed a projection by the Bureau of Reclamation that water levels in Lake Mead will, for the first time ever, fall below 1,075 feet within the next two years. As of now, the shortage declaration only affects the lower basin states of Arizona, Nevada, and California, as well as the country of Mexico. However, a similar shortage declaration for the upper basin states may be on the horizon. Inequity Between the States This dire projection implicates…

By Savannah Wix. Last April, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2772 into law, joining 25 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing sports gambling, ushering in a new era for Arizona sports fans. However, the Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe recently challenged the constitutionality of the law, which allows professional sports teams to obtain licenses to run sports gambling operations. A Maricopa County judge refused to issue an injunction prohibiting the enactment of the law, allowing sports betting to become officially legal in Arizona on September 9, 2021, the first day of the 2021 NFL football season. This law has long-term implications, not only for Arizona, but more seriously for the tribal communities in the state. The Surrounding Controversy: Effects on Tribal Communities The Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe filed…

By Noah Goldenberg. You may have heard that Arizona is disallowing peremptory challenges starting January 1st, 2022. If you missed the news, make sure to read Emily Tegley’s post on how peremptory challenges work and why it is so significant that Arizona is disallowing them.             Here is a quick refresher: before a jury trial, a jury must be selected. Arizona summons potential jurors to create a venire, or jury pool—a group from which the ultimate petit jury will be picked. During voir dire, lawyers from each side question potential jury members. If a lawyer shows that a juror cannot be impartial, the judge will exclude that juror from the final jury. Typically, lawyers also have a limited number of peremptory challenges–a tool lawyers use to exclude potential jury…

By Kelsey Weinman. On May 19, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law Senate Bill 8 (S.B. 8), also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act. SB 8 effectively bans abortion in Texas as it prevents abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, often before a woman even knows she is pregnant. The current Supreme Court precedent, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, holds that women have a constitutional right to pre-viability abortions. On September 1, 2021, the Supreme Court signaled that it may be prepared to overturn Roe and Casey by letting S.B. 8 go into effect. How did we get here?  In 1973, the Supreme Court decided the seminal abortion case Roe v. Wade. In Roe, the Court held that a state could not regulate abortion…

By Kaylee Racs. In November 2020, citizens of Arizona voted to pass Proposition 207, otherwise known as the Smart and Safe Arizona Act (SSAA). In addition to legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and older, the SSAA contained a provision (now codified as A.R.S. 36-2862) allowing certain individuals to petition the court for an expungement order sealing past marijuana-related convictions. Who Is Eligible to Have Their Past Convictions Expunged? Beginning July 12, 2021, those who were arrested for, charged with, or convicted of any of the following three offenses are eligible to apply for expungement: Possessing, consuming, or transporting two and one-half ounces or less of marijuana, of which not more than twelve and one-half grams was in the form of marijuana concentrate. Possessing, transporting, cultivating, or processing not…

By Luke Sower. Say goodbye to dinner and a show, and say hello to dinner and a check for $300. On August 23, the National Park Service (NPS) announced a two-month long increase in the bonus payments for participation in its Brown Trout Incentivized Harvest program in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The increase comes as NPS hopes to increase public participation in managing the population of the non-native trout species. Anglers who take advantage of the program have an opportunity to earn sizable bounty payments while simultaneously contributing to the protection and preservation of endangered and threatened fish species in Arizona. Background In October 2020, NPS and the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) announced a joint initiative aimed at managing the population of brown trout within a…

By Kylie McNamara. Over the past few weeks, the world has watched chaos unfold in Afghanistan. The Taliban has taken control of the country, causing Afghan men, women, and children to flee. The media shared images of desperate scenes at Kabul’s airport where an explosion killed many, including thirteen United States servicemembers. As of September 8, more than 124,000 individuals have been evacuated from Afghanistan—a number that is expected to grow. At least one report has identified Phoenix as the most ideal American city for Afghans’ resettlement. On August 29, Arizona received its first group of this new wave of Afghan refugees. Their arrival naturally leads to the question—what is next? A Survey of the Options After experiencing a tumultuous exit from their home country, likely leaving with few belongings,…