Month: September 2013

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last November, Arizona voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 115, a citizens initiative by the Center for Arizona Policy (CAP) that would have given the governor more say in appointing judges to the state’s appeals courts and the superior courts in its three largest counties. The CAP assault on the independence of the judiciary.

Not to be deterred, our "Sun King" Tea-Publican legislature enacted HB 2600 earlier this year to get what they and the CAP demanded, despite the will of the voters. "Screw the voters! I am the law!"

The Arizona Constitution cannot be
amended by a simple legislative act, it must be amended by approval of the voters. So four members of the commission that nominates judicial candidates for
the state’s appellate courts filed a special action in the
Arizona Supreme Court, asking the high court to throw out the law on the
grounds that it is unconstitutional. Effort targets judicial picks.

Today, the Arizona Supreme Court struck down HB 2600 as unconstitutional. The larger issue which remains is our lawless legislature's creeping encroachment on the independent judiciary on behalf of the CAP.

The full opinion is
Here, Dobson et al. v. State of Arizona ex rel Appeals Court Appointments, CV-13-0225-SA.

Highlights from the opinion below the fold:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Just in time for Constitution Day next week, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is alarmed by the shocking degree of civic ignorance among Americans. (Note to Sandra: You were the deciding vote in Bush v. Gore; see Article II, Section 1, just sayin'. "Regretting" your vote in hindsight does not absolve you of your sin. After Casting Key Fifth Vote For Bush, Justice O'Connor Now Regrets Bush v. Gore.)

In a speech in Boise, Idaho last week, Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in Boise, laments 'alarming degree of public ignorance':

Two-thirds of Americans cannot name a single Supreme Court justice, former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told the crowd that packed into a Boise State ballroom to hear her Thursday.

About one-third can name the three branches of government. Fewer than one-fifth of high school seniors can explain how citizen participation benefits democracy.

"Less than one-third of eighth-graders can identify the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence, and it's right there in the name," she said.