Courts & Law

‘Tenther’ Sen. Kelli Ward to push the so-called 2nd Amendment Protection Act again

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Arizona Capitol Times followed up on its report last week on "Tenther" Sen. Kelli Ward's bill to "nullify the NSA" with this tidbit way down in the report: Ward intends to reintroduce here bill from last year to nullify the enforecment of federal gun laws in Arizona. AZ lawmaker ready to take on NSA:

After unsuccessfully pushing legislation to defend Arizonans’ 2nd Amendment rights in 2013, Sen. Kelli Ward is preparing to try again during next year’s legislative session.

The Lake Havasu City Republican told the Arizona Capitol Times she’ll file another bill, similar to 2013’s SB 1112, that would attempt to prevent certain federal gun laws from being enforced in Arizona.

Guns manufactured and owned within Arizona’s borders would also be made exempt from any federal gun law, according to Ward’s 2013 legislation.

Ward’s previous attempt to pass such legislation failed after Senate Rules Attorney Stacey Weltsch told lawmakers she had no doubt the measure would be struck down in court — that various portions of the law would have violated the Supremacy Clause, interstate commerce regulations and the separation of powers under the U.S. Constitution.

Despite Weltsch’s warnings, Ward’s bill still cleared the Rules Committee in 2013, but could never gather enough votes to pass on the Senate floor. Strong objections from Senate Democrats, as well as concerns from some GOP lawmakers, left it clear the bill lacked enough votes for approval.

The bill was held on the Senate floor, never coming up for a vote.

Redistricting — Florida Supreme Court says state lawmakers must testify

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Cross posted from Arizona Eagletarian. On Blog for Arizona today, based on a new Florida Supreme Court ruling, AZBlueMeanie wrote a post making a case for an aggressive counterclaim to one or more of the (three) GOP lawsuits challenging legislative and congressional maps and the right of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission to conduct redistricting at all. … Read more

The case for aggressive litigation in the AIRC redistricting cases

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This is the reason why I believe the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC) should have been aggressive and filed a counter-claim against the secretive GOP redistricting organization FAIR Trust and its lawyer/lobbyists who tried to influence the AIRC on behalf of the Arizona GOP delegation. It would have allowed for litigation discovery and testimony under oath from everyone involved in FAIR Trust, and it would have conflicted out the lawyer/lobbyists who are currently representing the GOP in the redistricting lawsuits before the courts.

The Orlando Sentinel reports, Florida Supreme Court rules lawmakers can be forced to testify in redistricting court fight:

The Florida Supreme Court ruled Friday that state lawmakers can be forced to testify and turn over documents related to whether they intentionally redrew political maps for partisan gain last year.

The fight between voting-rights groups such as the League of Women Voters of Florida and the Legislature stems from 2010 constitutional amendments adopted by voters that specify lawmakers couldn’t base their decisions when re-drawing congressional and legislative districts on the desire for political gain.

Specifically, the Fair Districts amendments outlawed drawing new lines with the intent to favor or disfavor incumbents or political parties.

AZ Supreme Court to hear arguments re: injunction against campaign finance limits on Tuesday

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Last month, the Arizona Court of Appeals issued a preliminary injunction against HB2593 (new higher campaign contribution limits) in a ruling in Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, et al. v. The Honorable Mark H. Brain (CV13-0341-PR) and real parties in interest (.pdf). The Arizona Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday, … Read more

National Guard units now compliant with DoD regulations for same-sex partner benefits

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

EqualBack in early November, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered National Guard units in nine mostly Southern GOP governor controlled states to comply with the new Department of Defense same-sex marriage benefits regulations for military spouses and veterans. Secretary Hagel orders national guard units to comply with DoD regulations re: same-sex partner benefits.

After some resistance, particularly from the governors of Oklahoma and Texas, Secretary Hagel announced on Friday that Holdout states now compliant with Pentagon’s same-sex benefits policy:

All states are now processing benefits for same-sex National Guard spouses after several holdouts found ways to implement the policy without violating their constitutional bans on the recognition of gay marriage.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in an announcement Friday that same-sex spouses in every state can now obtain the military ID cards required to receive benefits for wives and husbands of service members.

“All of [the Department of Defense] is committed to pursuing equal opportunities for all who serve this nation, and I will continue to work to ensure our men and women in uniform as well as their families have full and equal access to the benefits they deserve,” Hagel said.

A handful of states, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia, refused to process ID applications for gay spouses after the Pentagon issued a directive requiring the military to treat all legally married couples equally for purposes of federal benefits. The states told same-sex couples they could only apply at federal installations, though heterosexual spouses could submit their paperwork at state facilities.

Hagel directed the chief of the National Guard Bureau in late October to work with state officials to reach compliance with the Defense Department’s new policy. The policy came in response to a landmark Supreme Court decision in June overturning a key provision in the Defense of Marriage Act.

Slowly, the holdout states and the National Guard Bureau found workarounds to ensure equal treatment of service members without allowing their employees to process same-sex benefits.