Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, an Election Integrity Champion, Sues Maricopa County Board of Supervisors over Usurping His Office

Justin Heap

After months of unsuccessfully attempting to recover key parts of his office back from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS), Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, who was elected on an election integrity platform last year, filed a lawsuit against the MCBOS. Represented by America First Legal (AFL), he demanded back control over early voting, ballot drop boxes, his IT department, and the ability to speed up ballot tabulation, areas that were negotiated away from him last fall by previous recorder Stephen Richer, an election fraud denier.

“The Board of Supervisors’ bad faith tactics in the SSA negotiation, compounded by their unanimous May 19 budget vote to cement the Board’s seizure of my statutory duties through the budget process is deeply disappointing, forcing us to take this issue to court,” Heap said in a statement. “Despite their repeated misinformation and gaslighting of the public on these issues, defending the civil right to free, fair, and honest elections for every Maricopa County voter isn’t simply my job as County Recorder, it’s the right thing to do and a mission I’m fully committed to achieving.”

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Kari Lake’s Reforms of Voice of America Winding Its Way Through Conflicted Courts

Kari Lake

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a stay granted on Wednesday requiring the Trump administration to continue paying grants to Voice of America (VOA) grantees. The cuts were led by Kari Lake, who was appointed as advisor to the acting CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA.

Lake posted on X after the ruling, “Judges are trying to take the authority away from the President to run executive branch agencies. This is a gross encroachment on the President’s Article II Powers. The American people voted loud and clear for President Trump and his agenda. We will appeal this ruling as high as possible.” The Trump administration is planning an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court.

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Attorneys File Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court in Long Running Lawsuit to End Mandatory Nature of State Bars

American Bar Association

Oregon attorneys represented by the Goldwater Institute filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court last week requesting consideration of their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of mandatory bar associations for attorneys. Crowe v. Oregon State Bar originated after the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 in Janus v. AFSCME that public-sector unions cannot require non-members to pay fees to support union activities. Attorneys Daniel Crowe, Lawrence Peterson, and the Oregon Civil Liberties Attorneys filed the lawsuit in 2018, asserting violations of free speech and freedom of association.

The lawsuit has wound its way twice up the courts through appeals. The case arose after the bar published a statement in its magazine claiming that President Donald Trump promoted white nationalism. The plaintiffs argued that the statement was non-germane to the bar’s regulatory purpose, constituted compelled political speech, and infringed on their freedom of association by forcing them to be members of an organization engaging in ideological activities they disagreed with.

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Robby Starbuck Sues Meta for Defamation Over its AI Generating ‘False’ Statements About Criminal Ties to J6 and More, Says Their Apology Isn’t Enough

Robby Starbuck

Meta Platforms Inc., previously Facebook, issued a statement on Tuesday apologizing to filmmaker and former congressional candidate Robby Starbuck after he sued the company for defamation over statements its AI generated that Starbuck criminally to J6. However, Starbuck said in a post on Thursday that the apology wasn’t enough.

In his complaint, which was filed on Tuesday, Starbuck said Meta AI claimed that he was charged with a crime from J6 after entering the U.S. Capitol and filming video — but Starbuck was not at J6. Starbuck’s complaint contained numerous statements from Meta AI that he said were also false, including that he is a Holocaust denier, white nationalist, and suggested that his children be removed from him and placed with someone who doesn’t object to transgender children and DEI.

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Lawsuit Forces All 15 Arizona Counties to Begin Removing Noncitizens from Voter Rolls

Voter registration

All 15 of Arizona’s counties agreed to settle a lawsuit brought last September by America First Legal (AFL) against their recorders over failing to remove noncitizens from voter rolls. Maricopa County agreed to the settlement earlier this month, Yavapai and Mohave counties settled in November, and the remaining counties settled last Wednesday, sending requests to the Department of Homeland Security to assist them in verifying voters’ citizenship. In January, there were 50,000 federal-only voters on the state’s voter rolls, which are voters who are only allowed to vote in federal races due to failing to produce documented proof of citizenship (DPOC). 

“This settlement is a great result for all Arizonans,” AFL Senior Counsel James Rogers said in a statement on Monday. “This will help County Recorders find and remove any aliens on their voter rolls. It will also potentially enfranchise federal-only voters whose citizenship is confirmed, which would allow them to vote in State and local elections. AFL congratulates each of Arizona’s 15 County Recorders for taking this bold and important step for election integrity in the State.”

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Attorney General Kris Mayes and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes Sue Trump Administration Over Election Integrity Executive Order

Arizona Sec State Adrian Fontes, AG Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes joined Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in a lawsuit filed with 19 other Democratic-run states against the Trump administration challenging his executive order on election integrity measures for allegedly intruding on state sovereignty. However, Democratic officials supported HR 1, a 2021 bill in Congress that would federalize elections, and President Joe Biden issued an executive order during his tenure directing federal agencies to find ways to facilitate voter registration and voter education. This is the 16th lawsuit Mayes has filed along with other Democrats against the new Trump administration.

Trump’s executive order will require individuals to show documented proof of citizenship (DPOC) in order to register to vote instead of merely attesting to it. Other changes include prohibiting QR codes, requiring ballots to be received by Election Day, and regularly cleaning noncitizens from voter rolls. Trump’s executive order directed the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to carry out many of his changes. 

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Attorney General Kris Mayes Sues New Trump Administration Two More Times, over DOGE Cuts to the Federal Government

Arizona AG Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes joined other Democratic attorneys general filing two more lawsuits against the Trump administration on Friday. One of the lawsuits challenged the pausing of controversial grants issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The second contested the dismantling of three agencies that assist unions, promote minority-owned businesses, and give money to libraries for Drag Queen Story Hour for children. Mayes, who has developed a reputation for aggressively going after Republicans, has filed 13 previous lawsuits with other attorneys general against the Trump administration this year.

The 21 attorneys general argued in the lawsuits that the Trump administration was interfering with Congress’s authority. However, those agencies are under the executive branch, not Congress. 

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Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty Sue Kari Lake for Halting Their Funding, D.C. Court Holds Hearing

Kari Lake

Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) filed a lawsuit against Kari Lake in her capacity as advisor to the acting CEO of the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) last week.

The two independent media organizations, contracted by the government, alleged that she wrongly halted their grant funding as part of the Trump administration’s DOGE cuts. Royce Charles Lamberth, a senior judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, heard oral arguments on Monday.

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Nashville Among Cities Suing Trump Administration Over Federal Funding Freeze

Nashville City Hall

The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County is among a group of U.S. cities and nonprofit organizations suing the Trump administration for freezing federal funding.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina Charleston Division on Wednesday, cites three executive orders signed by President Donald Trump that freeze federal funding and directs federal agencies to eliminate certain federal grants and contracts.

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Attorney General Kris Mayes and Other Democratic AGs Sue Trump Administration over Laying Off Federal Employees

Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes, who has pushed back aggressively against the Trump administration since January including filing nine lawsuits, joined a lawsuit with 20 other Democratic attorneys general on Thursday suing to stop the layoffs of half of the U.S. Department of Education employees. The lawsuit comes on the heels of a broader lawsuit she joined last week with her Democratic colleagues suing over the layoffs of probationary federal employees at nearly two dozen agencies, and a lawsuit filed last month over Trump cutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

A press release from the Department of Education announcing the cuts said it was “part of the Department of Education’s final mission,” implying the agency is going to be shut down, which Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has called for.

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Republican Party Scores Legal Victory Over Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ ‘Blatantly Political’ Election Procedures Manual

Arizona Sec State Adrian Fontes

An Arizona Court of Appeals panel ruled unanimously 3-0 last week that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes illegally made revisions to the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) due to violating rulemaking procedures.

The Republican Party — the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), the Republican National Committee, and the Yavapai County Republican Party — sued Fontes over the illegal changes. Even though progressive election attorney Marc Elias and top Democratic law firm Perkins Coie represented the defendants, the court found that the 2023 version of the EPM was invalid since Fontes only provided half the time for public comment that Arizona’s Administrative Procedures Act (APA) requires.

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Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap Threatens Legal Action Against County Supervisors Over Taking More Control of Elections

Maricopa Recorder Justin Heap

New Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap published a news release on Monday demanding that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) return their control over much of the elections process to him, or he would take legal action. The MCBOS transferred significant powers away from the recorder in 2019, due to a disappointing job performance by then-recorder Adrian Fontes. They grabbed even more powers from Heap last fall, and have mostly ignored his objections.

“With an election less than 90 days away,” Heap said, “the Supervisors’ unwillingness to address these concerns will force me to take legal action against the Board to restore this office’s full authority, and deliver the results voters elected me to achieve. If the Board is unwilling to have good faith discussions with the Recorder regarding our statutorily shared election duties, then perhaps it is time to return all election responsibilities to the Recorder’s Office — something I readily welcome.” 

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Illegal Gun Reporting Mandate Struck Down Again in Pima County

Chris King, Pima County

A judge struck down a law in Pima County last week which made it a crime to fail to report lost or stolen guns to law enforcement within two days or face $1,000 fines. This was the second time the law was passed and removed for conflicting with state law. Unlike most states, Arizona does not require those who purchase firearms to undergo a federal background check unless they purchase the firearm from a dealer with a Federal Firearms License. Since many Arizonans are concerned about privacy, they purchase guns from private parties instead to avoid getting on a government list. 

Goldwater Institute (GI) lawyers sued the county last April over Ordinance 2024-2, representing Air Force veteran Chris King and the Pima County-based Arizona Citizens Defense League. GI issued a statement afterwards. “The new ordinance wasn’t just illegal — it took aim at the wrong people,” GI said. “Rather than target criminals who steal firearms, the requirement would have revictimized law-abiding gun owners who experience the loss or theft of a firearm. Some may not even realize they are victims until much later.” 

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Arizona’s $125 Million Film Subsidy Faces Legal Challenge Over Alleged Constitutional Violation

Movie shoot on location

Representing two taxpayers, the Goldwater Institute (GI) filed a lawsuit last week against the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) challenging the use of taxpayers’ money to provide subsidies to the movie industry. The Arizona Motion Picture Production Program (AMPPP) hands out up to $125 million annually to films made primarily in Arizona. 

State Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff), who voted against the bill that established the
AMPPP, expressed her support for the lawsuit to The Arizona Sun Times. “Government should not pick winners and losers,” she said. “Goldwater Institute is right in line with how President Trump is hearkening back to our country’s ethos, which is merit-based, market-driven awarding success to those who earn it on a level playing field… instead of according to who you know, but what you know. We’re done with elitist backroom deals crushing the middle class.”

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Arizona Realtor Files Lawsuit Claiming Realtors’ Anti-discrimination Rule, Which He Allegedly Violated with Political Memes, Tramples the First Amendment

Chad DeVries

A realtor who was found to have violated an anti-discrimination rule due to posting memes on his personal anonymous Instagram account critical of LGBTQ has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Association of Realtors (AAR). Represented by attorney Ryan Heath, Chad DeVries filed Devries v. Arizona Association of Realtors in July 2024, alleging that the AAR did not have authority over his personal conduct, and asserted that by punishing him, he will not be able to access the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) for real estate, preventing him from doing his job until the discipline is completed.

Podcaster and real estate pro Notorious Rob posted a couple of the memes from DeVries’ Instagram account, which is accessible only to followers and does not have his name on it. One of the memes shows a pregnant man with another man, titled “Man Gives Birth to Child.” DeVries added a comment, “I feel like we live on Mars. WTF”

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Jury Exonerates Phoenix Police Lieutenant Sued by Two ICE Protesters Over Arrests

Phoenix Police

A jury decided last week that Lieutenant Benjamin Moore of the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) did not violate the First Amendment rights of two demonstrators who refused to disperse from a 2019 “Lights for Liberty” protest against ICE. Activists Phil Martinez and George Soria sued Moore and the City of Phoenix in July 2021, alleging that they were arrested in retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights to engage in free speech critical of the police, with Martinez stating that it caused him a panic attack. The pair and others were arrested for obstructing the highway, public thoroughfare, and unlawful assembly.

Moore’s defense attorney, John Masterson of Jones Skelton & Hochuli PLC, explained in his closing argument to the jury that the reason Moore didn’t arrest most of the other protesters is because they left when the police asked them to disperse. He noted that Martinez’s and Soria’s attorney Mart Harris admitted that Martinez and Soria refused to leave, and that there had been over 100 warnings to disperse.

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Appeals Court Reverses Obama-Appointed Trial Court Judge Who Ruled That Phoenix Police Used Excessive Force Against Trump Protesters

Judge John J. Tuchi

A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a ruling by an Obama-appointed judge which found that the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) used “excessive force” dealing with violent protesters outside of a Donald Trump rally in 2017. The court’s opinion, issued last Thursday, found that U.S. District Court Judge John J. Tuchi incorrectly applied Fourth Amendment law to analyze claims from three protesters who were hit with projectiles.

Trump held a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center on August 22, 2017. A “Free Speech Zone” was set up for protesters, but the PPD was forced to intervene when they became violent. The opinion said the police used “tear gas, other chemical irritants, and flash-bang grenades” to deter the rioters. 

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Maricopa County Recorder Attempted to Have Conservative ASU Professor Fired over Social Media Posts, Lawsuit Claims

Aaron Ludwig

We the People AZ Alliance (WPAA), represented by Kari Lake’s former attorney Bryan Blehm, filed a lawsuit last week against outgoing Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer demanding records related to Richer allegedly attempting to get a conservative Arizona State University professor fired and disciplined by the State Bar of Arizona. WPAA requested an email between Richer and States United Democracy Center (SUDC), concerned that the far left activist group was aiding Richer in his attempt to get Aaron Ludwig fired.

The complaint asserted, “On July 31, 2022, Defendant Richer, acting as Maricopa County Recorder, sent an email to the Directors of ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice seeking to have a faculty associate terminated from ASU for sharing a Tweet. … Defendant’s email also shows that the Recorder, in his capacity as Maricopa County Recorder, intended to seek sanctions against the faculty member through the State Bar of Arizona as the faculty member was also an attorney licensed to practice law in Arizona.” 

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Maricopa County Supervisors Vote to Give Antifa and BLM Protesters Arrested for Violence $6 Million for Attempting to Prosecute Them

BLM Protest Phoenix

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) unanimously approved a $6 million payout on Wednesday to Antifa and BLM protesters who were arrested and prosecuted for violence after the death of George Floyd during a riot in downtown Phoenix in 2020. After ABC-15 ran a series of videos critical of how law enforcement handled the protesters, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) dropped the charges, prompting a lawsuit by the protesters against the county and the City of Phoenix. The chief prosecutor on the case, April Sponsel, was fired and suspended from the practice of law for two years. 

Retired FBI Special Agent James E. Egelston of Baseline Investigations prepared a 161-page report for Maricopa County in June 2023 regarding the actions of Sponsel and the Phoenix Police officers involved. He stated, “During the march, protesters walked in the streets, blocked traffic, knocked over and dragged construction barricades into traffic lanes, threw smoke bombs in the path of police, repeatedly ignored commands from the police, and resisted arrest. One of the protesters was armed with a loaded rifle and a loaded handgun. Another protester carried a brick in a backpack.”

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Public Charter School in Nashville Files Lawsuit Against Metro Schools for Rezoning Plan

Students

LEAD Public Schools filed a lawsuit against Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) on Monday, challenging a rezoning plan previously approved by the MNPS board concerning LEAD Cameron Middle School.

LEAD Cameron is a zone-enrolled public charter middle school operating south of Nashville in the Glencliff cluster. The middle school was founded in 2011 and serves grades 5-8.

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Judge Throws Out Lawsuit Against Adrian Fontes for Failing to Remove Up to 1.27 Million Ineligible Voters from Voter Rolls

Dominic Lanza, Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi, Republican businessman Steven Gaynor, Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda

U.S. District Court Judge Dominic Lanza dismissed a lawsuit challenging over a million ineligible voters on Arizona’s voter rolls, asserting that the plaintiffs had no standing. Arizona Republican Party Chair Gina Swoboda, Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi, and Republican businessman Steven Gaynor filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes earlier this year. 

Legal commentator Robert Barnes said rejecting lawsuits based on standing is a legal practice that should not exist in the law. “[I]n some of the worst government abuses over the last century, the main doctrine cited for judicial abdication is standing,” he said, citing a law review article at Pepperdine School of Law. “The meaning of standing keeps involving over the decades since with the courts restricting the definition of injury and rewriting the meaning of causation to exclude most Constitutional injuries from judicial remedy wherever and whenever it politically pleased the courts to do so. As scholars concede: the standing doctrine is ‘so malleable’ that courts ‘routinely manipulate’ it depending on where a judge ‘wishes’ to reach the merits. The wild inconsistency and contradictions in standing doctrine reveal it for it really is: a Pontius Pilate pretext to wash their hands of the dirty deeds of government.”

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Court Forces Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to Turn Over Voter Registration Information on 218,000 Voters Lacking Proof of Citizenship

AZ Sec State Adrian Fontes

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was ordered on Thursday to turn over by Monday the voter registration information on 218,000 voters in Arizona who are registered to vote but who failed to provide proof of citizenship. He appealed the decision immediately afterwards, with two organizations submitting amicus curiae briefs supporting him, but the Arizona Court of Appeals issued an order Monday morning affirming the lower court’s decision to require the list in response to a public records request from America First Legal (AFL). 

James Rogers, America First Legal Senior Counsel, said in a statement regarding the case, “When Secretary Fontes discovered the glitch that allowed 218,000 individuals to register without providing proof of citizenship, he should have immediately shared the list of affected individuals with Arizona’s county recorders, who are in charge of verifying the citizenship of voters. Instead, he has jealously guarded the list, refusing to share it with anyone.”

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‘No Significant History’ of Domestic Violence: Insights from Unsealed Gallego Divorce Records

Ruben and Kate Gallego

After a 10-month long legal battle, The Washington Free Beacon finally prevailed this week in its lawsuit to obtain divorce records from Ruben Gallego and his ex-wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. The Gallegos, who had the records sealed when they began the divorce in late 2016, fought the media outlet’s request to open their file, claiming there was personal financial information and information regarding their yet-unborn child in them. However, due to persistent rumors of domestic violence, great interest developed in releasing the file. 

The records revealed that the couple avoided a trial by agreeing to terms of a Consent Decree. It stated, “The parties acknowledge and agree that there was no domestic violence during the marriage or that significant domestic violence did not occur.” The judge added to that portion, “The Parenting Plan shall include ‘A statement that there has been no significant history of domestic violence between the parties.’”

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Conservative State Senator Suing City of Tucson for Prosecuting Her over Alleged Criminal Speeding

State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson) is filing a lawsuit against Tucson after its police department after city prosecutors pursued criminal charges against her relating to a traffic stop in March.

Wadsack did not receive a speeding ticket during the stop and denied to the police officer that she was traveling 71 on Speedway Blvd in the city. Although the officer told her he caught her on the radar driving that fast, the Tucson Police Department (TPD) admitted later there was no radar evidence.

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New EPA Rules Will Cause Widespread Blackouts, Electric Grid Operators Warn in SCOTUS Brief

Organizations that manage, coordinate and monitor electricity service for 156 million Americans across 30 states are warning that the Biden-Harris administration’s power plant rule will be catastrophic for the nation’s grid. Four regional trade organizations (RTO), as they’re called, recently filed an amicus brief, also known as a friend of the court brief, in support of a multi-state lawsuit against the EPA over the rule.

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Prominent Conservative Sues the State Bar of Arizona over ‘Politicized Star-Chamber-Like Weaponization’ Targeting Conservative Attorneys

Lawyers

David Mast, a former government contractor, founder and former chair of Citizen Taxpayers of Utah, and president of AZ Voters Rights, filed a lawsuit against the State Bar of Arizona last week alleging it targets conservative attorneys. Mast said due to creating fear among attorneys, he is unable to find any to represent him in lawsuits related to conservative causes, violating his “constitutional rights to freedom of expression, association, and petition,” which is “viewpoint discrimination.”

He filed the lawsuit pro se, without an attorney, since he “is unable to find an attorney either within or without Arizona who is willing to file this suit due to likely retaliation by Defendants.” Kari Lake often jokes that eventually she will have to represent herself in her election lawsuits since she will be unable to find any attorneys left who dare to assist her. One of her key attorneys, Bryan Blehm, is currently suspended. 

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DOJ Sues Owner, Operator of Vessel That Hit Francis Scott Key Bridge for $100 Million

Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the owner and operator of the vessel that hit Francis Scott Key Bridge on Wednesday for $100 million in May.

“The Justice Department is committed to ensuring accountability for those responsible for the destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which resulted in the tragic deaths of six people and disrupted our country’s transportation and defense infrastructure,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement. 

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AZGOP Sues Governor Hobbs Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Executive Orders Setting up Ballot Drop Boxes, Voter Registration at Prisons

Katie Hobbs with 'Mobile Voter Outreach' van, 2019

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) filed a lawsuit last month against Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs over her “unconstitutional” executive orders relaxing election laws. The Petition for Special Action challenged Hobbs placing voter registration forms at prisons and designating the prisons as ballot drop-off locations, which the AZGOP stated was taking “ultra vires” actions, meaning beyond her legal power and authority.

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Book Publishers Sue Florida over Law Banning Sexually Explicit Books from Schools

Kids reading at the library

A coalition of book publishers and individual authors have filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida over its law banning sexually explicit books from school libraries in the state.

As the Daily Caller reports, the lawsuit was filed in the Orlando Federal Court on Thursday by a group of over a dozen publishers and authors, claiming that the bill signed into law in May of 2023 by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) is a violation of both the First and 14th Amendments. The law, the plaintiffs claim, “interferes” with their ability to produce and distribute “constitutionally protected” books, insisting that the law is too vague in its description of “sexual conduct.”

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State Bar of Arizona Disciplinary Panel Dismisses Complaint Against Kari Lake’s Two Attorneys over Voting Machine Tabulator Lawsuit

Margaret Downie

A disciplinary panel for the State Bar of Arizona (SBA) dismissed complaints filed against two of Kari Lake’s attorneys that were brought over their work representing Kari Lake in a 2022 lawsuit, Lake v. Hobbs, challenging the use of voting machine tabulators in elections. The panel of three, led by Presiding Disciplinary Judge Margaret Downie, found that the SBA did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that Kurt Olsen — who represented himself and isn’t a licensed member of the SBA — and Andrew Parker violated any ethics rules. The decision cited a recent opinion from the Arizona Supreme Court, Ariz. Republican Party v. Richer, which held that attorneys should not be sanctioned for bringing election lawsuits. 

U.S. District Court Judge John Tuchi, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, ordered sanctions of $122,200 against Olsen, Parker, and attorney Alan Dershowitz over a year ago for bringing the lawsuit. The sanctions were requested by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who were represented by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. The Maricopa County Republican Committee censured Mitchell over the representation.

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Tennessee AG Joins Lawsuit Against DHS Program to Grant ‘Parole in Place’ to Illegal Aliens

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti was one of the state attorneys general who joined a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new program process to allow hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who are the spouse or stepchild of a U.S. citizen to “parole in place.”

The 56-page complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Texas U.S. District Court on Friday, challenges DHS’ “Keeping Families Together” program, which began accepting applications on Monday.

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10 More States Join Federal Lawsuit Led by Tennessee Against Ticketmaster’s Parent Company

Ten additional states have joined a lawsuit led by Tennessee and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., which owns Ticketmaster. The lawsuit alleges that the company has “illegally monopolized the live entertainment industry.”

In May, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and the DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, alleging that the company holds venues “hostage” through “restrictive long-term, exclusive agreements and threats,” “forces artists to select Live Nation as a promoter instead of its rivals” through leverage of its extensive network of amphitheaters, and “harms” fans through “higher fees, lack of transparency, fewer consumer choices, and stifling innovation.”

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Arizona Court of Appeals Hears Oral Arguments over Scottsdale’s ‘Bait and Switch’ Description of ‘New’ Prop. 490 Park Sales Tax as a Tax Decrease

Attorney Scott Day Freeman

A three-judge panel on the Arizona Court of Appeals heard oral arguments last Tuesday in the Goldwater Institute’s (GI) legal challenge to a $1.2 billion sales tax the City of Scottsdale referred to the ballot this fall. GI said the City’s description of Proposition 490 made the tax for parks out to be a tax decrease, when it really was a new tax. GI was appealing a dismissal of its lawsuit by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Gordon, who was appointed to the bench by Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano.

In its executive summary about the lawsuit, GI stated, “The City of Scottsdale is attempting to trick Scottsdale residents into approving a tax increase by calling it a tax reduction.” GI cited Arizona law, Molera v. Hobbs, which prohibits bait and switch tactics with ballot measures. 

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Arizona Right to Life Files Opening Brief with Arizona Supreme Court Opposing Radical Nine-Month Abortion Proposition on the Ballot

Arizona Abortion Supporters

Arizona Right to Life (AZRTL) appealed a trial court judge’s rejection of its lawsuit challenging the Right to Abortion Initiative, Prop. 139, which will appear on the ballot this fall.

AZRTL filed an opening brief with the Arizona Supreme Court on Monday, asking the court “to find the Ballot Measure legally insufficient for placement on the Arizona Ballot because the petition’s summary misrepresented and concealed the principal provisions of the Ballot Measure.” Prop. 139 will legalize abortion up until ninth months of pregnancy, including partial-birth abortion.

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America First Legal Sues Maricopa County for Refusing to Remove Noncitizens and Illegal Immigrants from Their Voter Rolls Before the Election

America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit on Monday against Maricopa County, including Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, for failing to remove noncitizens and illegal immigrants from their voter rolls. AFL sent letters to election officials in all 15 Arizona counties in July, demanding they fulfill their legal obligations within a week or AFL would sue them. 

The complaint says 35,273 registered voters in Arizona had failed to provide proof of citizenship and were registered as federal-only voters as of April 2024, a number that continues to increase, according to a report from Maricopa County. That report revealed that between April 1 and July 3, the numbers increased from 21,595 to 26,108, a jump of 21 percent. Additionally, the complaint cited a July 2024 survey of likely voters in Arizona and five other states, which found that over 1 percent said they are not U.S. citizens. AFL stated that recent races in Arizona have been decided by margins of less than 1 percent.

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Virginia Military Institute Alumni File Lawsuit Against Institute’s Official Alumni Association

A frustrated group of Virginia Military Institute alumni, some of whom have previously spoken out against the institution’s growing embrace of DEI, have taken on a new battle.

The disgruntled alumni have filed a civil rights lawsuit against VMI Alumni Agencies, arguing the relationship between the official alma mater organization and the institute itself is inappropriate, that school leaders have too much control over it.

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Lawsuit Filed Against ‘Arrogant’ ‘Make Elections (Un)Fair Act’ That ‘Radically Alters Arizona’s Constitutional Structure’

People Voting

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) filed a lawsuit against the Make Elections Fair Act (MEFA) on Friday. The complaint alleged that the initiative violates the Arizona Constitution by illegally combining multiple constitutional amendments in one ballot initiative. It said the “Make Elections (Unfair) Act” will “radically alter Arizona’s constitutional structure in multiple ways.”

“In their rush to undermine the will of Arizona voters for future elections, the special interests that drafted this measure ignored our laws and our Constitution,” said Scot Mussi, president of AFEC in a statement. “This egregious disregard for law and order exudes arrogance from these parties and should disqualify their measure from the November ballot.”

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