Today the Arizona Supreme Court issued in its full opinion in Molera v. Hobbs, the lawsuit challenging the 100-word summary accompanying petitions to qualify the Invest in Education initiative for the 2020 general election ballot. The opinion explains the Court’s reasoning for earlier ordering the initiative to be placed back on the ballot after aRead moreRead more
Author: Eric Spencer
Supreme Court Scales Back Future Initiative Challenges in Molera v. Hobbs
9th Circuit Refuses to Enjoin Arizona’s Initiative Strikeout Law
Today the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction sought with respect to Arizona’s “strikeout” law, which requires a court to invalidate any initiative petition sheets collected by a circulator who is subpoenaed for trial and does not appear. The blog has previously covered the strikeout litigation here. Today’s order expressedRead moreRead more
Supreme Court Clarifies Recall Election Threshold For Many Cities/Towns
Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Morrissey v. Garner, a recall case out of the Town of Payson. The Court ruled in Morrissey’s favor late last year, and today’s opinion provides the full reasoning behind the Court’s decision. The case stemmed from a 2019 effort by Unite Payson to recall Mayor Tom Morrissey. Read moreRead more
UPDATED: Initiative Lawsuit Seeks to Cure Alleged Constitutional Violation using Potentially Unconstitutional Remedy
Last week, several initiative campaigns filed twin lawsuits in the Arizona Supreme Court and Arizona Federal District Court alleging unconstitutional burdens on their ability to campaign, and therefore sought access to the Secretary of State’s “E-Qual” system to electronically collect initiative petition signatures for the next few months. It makes sense why the campaigns wouldRead moreRead more
Nomination Petition Challenges: Top 20 Signature Deficiencies To Spot
Candidate signatures are finally in, and you’ve probably thought about pulling your opponent’s petitions to see if he or she might be vulnerable to a legal challenge. The decision whether to request those petitions is often based on the opponent’s signature margin; that is, the percentage cushion between the required signatures and number of signaturesRead moreRead more
Candidate Filing Wrap-Up: Who’s Safe and Who’s Vulnerable
The candidate filing deadline has passed in Arizona. With a hat tip to The Yellow Sheet for being first to publish, here is the current list of federal, statewide, and legislative candidates as of 4:30 p.m. on April 7th. For the Legislature, the most vulnerable candidate might be Ronnie Maestas-Condos with a mere 20 signatureRead moreRead more