Arizona State Law Journal Blog

By Kristina Major. On February 2, 2022 people across the United States celebrated the 36th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day, commemorating Title IX’s 50th anniversary. This year, the day followed weeks of discussions surrounding the fact that many cheer, dance, and spirit programs are not granted the same Title IX protections as other college women’s athletics programs. In January 2022, Louisiana State University’s (LSU) Tiger Girls made headlines after becoming the 2022 Division 1A Hip Hop National Champions at Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Nationals only a year after LSU refused to send them to nationals. In the past few years, both Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Dance Team and the University of Arizona Pom & Dance Line have also competed at UDA Nationals. While cheerleading has…

By Alexander Egber. It’s hard to find a more contentious issue in American politics today than voting rights. Most of the media’s attention on the topic has justifiably focused on the current Congress’s effort to pass federal voting rights legislation that would supersede the Supreme Court’s much-discussed decisions in Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee. These decisions chipped away at the potency of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and presumably made it more difficult to challenge voting laws by arguing they have a racially disparate impact. Legal challenges to voting laws come in other flavors as well, though. Another prominent legal theory that election litigators use is that a law violates equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. That’s the precise theory the Arizona Democratic Party…

By Kaylee Racs. On February 25, employees at a Mesa, Arizona Starbucks voted 25–3 in favor of unionizing their store. The Starbucks, located at Power and Baseline roads, became the third company-owned store across the nation, and the first outside of New York, to organize a successful union push. The employees’ victory comes on the heels of an influx of union applications filed in Starbucks stores across the nation—more than 100 in the last six months alone. Though this number seems small in light of Starbucks’ almost 9,000 company-owned stores, it represents a movement towards unionization in an industry with traditionally low entry rates. The History of Labor Unions in the United States Membership in labor unions peaked during the 1940s and 1950s, with a little more than a third…

By Gabriela Berigan. The 2020 election caused a severe divide between the political parties. This divide was more notable in swing states, which ultimately decided the results of the election. Trump challenged these states on multiple instances but was unsuccessful on all but one occasion. There were four different challenges in Arizona specifically, but these were all dismissed for varying reasons. Because these challenges were unsuccessful, the House and Elections Committee in Arizona has proposed HB2787, which would divide Maricopa County into four separate counties. 2020 Election Fraud Challenges Extreme political tension between the two parties caused debate over the validity of the 2020 election. Democrats did everything in their power to get Trump out of office after his first term. But determined Republicans intended to keep Trump in for…

By Turner Smith. Arizona Senate Republicans narrowly voted to pass Senate Bill (“SB”) 1164 on February 15, 2022. SB 1164 bans abortions after 15 weeks. SB 1164 advanced to the House where it received its first read on February 28, 2022. With a very slight Republican majority, SB 1164 will likely pass. Governor Doug Ducey, who has a strong “pro-life” record, will almost certainly sign SB 1164, should it come across his desk. SB 1164 is modeled closely after Mississippi’s 2018 House Bill (“HB”) 1510, which similarly bans abortions after 15 weeks. The constitutionality of that bill is currently being considered by the Supreme Court, which heard arguments in December 2021. Like HB 1510, SB 1164 provides only one exception—for cases of medical emergencies. It does not make an exception…

By Michael O’Neill. Grant Woods passed away on October 23, 2021. I first learned of his passing when my professor, 9th Circuit Judge Andrew Hurwitz took a moment at the end of class to reflect on Grant’s legacy. Judge Hurwitz knew Grant professionally for many years but also played on a softball team with him up until the week of his passing. Grant Woods was a father, an avid baseball fan, an amateur playwright, a musician, and a lawyer. A long-time Republican who served as a chief of staff to John McCain, Grant was quick to disavow the party as soon as Donald Trump won the primary prior to the 2016 election. He was a key participant in reaching the largest civil settlement in history against the big tobacco companies…

By Oscar Porter. February 2022: Phoenix Police ambushed and shot. Several law enforcement officers were ambushed in South Phoenix last month, continuing a trend of violence against police that stretches back almost two years. The ambush occurred during an attempt to rescue a young woman and her one-month-old baby. A total of five officers were shot and nine officers were wounded. The gunman barricaded himself inside a home, and shot at the officers when they came close to the house. Police said the woman died of her wounds, and the shooter committed suicide after a standoff. While none of those officers were killed in the ambush, six officers have been fatally shot in the line of duty since the beginning of this year. Mayor Kate Gallego couldn’t “recall an incident…

By Alicia Curti. Most consumers in the United States own a cell phone and use it regularly for various purposes, including location and navigation services. Among the most popular cell phones are Google’s Android devices. Some more tech savvy consumers, if they want to be cautious or desire privacy, may know that they can disable the location history feature to limit location tracking. But do consumers know that their location is still tracked and stored in their Google account even when this feature is disabled? Should companies like Google be required to disclose this to consumers? If they do not disclose it, should companies be held liable for data privacy violations? The Attorneys General of several states have filed suit against Google on these grounds. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich…

By Kelsey Weinman. On January 24, 2022, the Supreme Court granted certiorari on two cases challenging affirmative action in college admissions: Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina. The Supreme Court has previously held that universities may use race in determining admissions, but petitioners are asking the court to reconsider. Legal History of Affirmative Action in College Admissions Affirmative action refers to policies that aim to increase representation of minority groups such as women and people of color. As part of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, colleges began considering race as a factor in admissions in order to increase student diversity. White students were quick to call for a prohibition on racial considerations, but the…

By Avery Cartwright. Sarah Palin, former governor of Alaska and 2008 vice presidential candidate, filed suit against The New York Times in federal court after the Times published a 2017 editorial that erroneously connected her to the January 2011 mass shooting near Tucson, Arizona. Although the jury dismissed the case in early February 2022, Palin indicated that she plans to seek a new trial because of procedural issues in the case. Her lawsuit could challenge long-standing precedent regarding freedom of the press. The New York Times v. Sullivan Standard In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court decided New York Times v. Sullivan, a landmark case for freedom of speech in news reporting. In Sullivan, the Times was sued after it ran an advertisement criticizing the city of Montgomery’s police department. Although…