A federal judge dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over his refusal to turn over voter registration records.
The Arizona District Court ruled in United States v. Fontes on Tuesday that the federal government didn’t have justification under federal law to force Fontes to turn over the records.
The court dismissed the claim with prejudice, calling the federal government’s claim on the law “[an] amendment [that] would be legally futile.”
District Judge Susan Brnovich, widow to former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, found “unconvincing” the DOJ’s argument that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. § 20702) gave the federal government authority to request state voter records and documents. Brnovich said this interpretation conflicted with the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
“[T]he Attorney General’s interpretation places § 20702 in conflict with multiple provisions of the NVRA and HAVA,” said Brnovich.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the lawsuit against Fontes in January. Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi sought Arizona’s entire statewide voter registration list, which would include a registered voter’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and driver’s license number or last four Social Security Number digits.
At the time, Bondi said voter registration database transparency between the states and federal government fulfilled a “basic obligation of transparency.”
— Arizona Secretary of State (@AZSecretary) April 29, 2026
Fontes said the court ruling represented a victory for preserving the security of voter privacy.
“Looks like your personal data is safe yet again because the case against me and the Department of Justice’s illegal requests to grab that voter registration have been dismissed,” said Fontes. “I will continue to protect your personal identifying information from these illegal requests no matter what.”
BREAKING: A federal judge dismissed the DOJ’s case against my office.
Arizonans’ personal identifying information is safe and I will continue doing everything in my power to protect your privacy. pic.twitter.com/sPbqpkGiry
— Arizona Secretary of State (@AZSecretary) April 28, 2026
The DOJ requested records from Fontes twice last summer and once last winter. Fontes denied all requests. He has maintained that state and federal privacy laws preempt him from turning over voter records.
Attorney General Kris Mayes supported Fontes’ refusal from the start.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Mayes said the ruling was a rightful dismissal and a vindication of Fontes’ actions.
“That database contains the sensitive personal information of millions of Arizona voters — home addresses, dates of birth, and Social Security and driver’s license numbers. But the Court was clear: Title III of the Civil Rights Act does not authorize this demand,” said Mayes.
Today, Judge Susan Brnovich's dismissed the DOJ's lawsuit demanding our voter registration rolls. @AZSecretary and I will continue to defend the privacy of voters against federal overreach.
— AZ Attorney General Kris Mayes (@AZAGMayes) April 28, 2026
Five other federal courts in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island have rejected this Civil Rights Act argument by the Trump DOJ.
The DOJ has 25 lawsuits on their claim of Civil Rights Act authority pending in Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Earlier this month, Arizona Senate leadership referred Fontes to the DOJ for allegedly obstructing justice and tampering with a witness concerning a federal probe into Arizona election records.
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Arizona State University (ASU) is using an AI tool, ASU Atomic, to create educational modules using content ripped from professors’ work.
Professors say they were not made aware of their lectures being used in this way; they also characterized the outcome as inaccurate “AI slop” as first reported by 404 Media.
“AI slop” refers generally to poor, undesired generative content. In some circles, “slop” may refer to not just some but all generative content under the perception that generative AI tools rely on stolen original works.
ASU Atomic promises to create an unlimited amount of custom learning modules for subscribers by taking long lectures and condensing them into smaller clips based on prompts. These synthetic clips “grounded in trusted ASU courses” fit within condensed courses that amount to less than 10 hours.
The tool began as a pilot launch earlier this month within an initiative called “Project Atomizer.”
Subscriptions for ASU Atomic cost $5 a month. At present, course content produced by the tool doesn’t translate to ASU academic credits, nor badges or credentials.
Not much exists publicly on Project Atomizer. The initiative was mentioned briefly in a February presentation by ASU President Michael Crow, part of a larger proposal to make AI the focus of the future: “current realities require current solutions,” according to the presentation.
Crow said in an interview last week with the Greater Phoenix Chamber that ASU has 50 AI tools, three of which are augmentative AI tools for students. Crow said he uses AI for “everything” in his daily life.
“[W]hen I’m driving to work, I use the Gemini tool. Basically, I’ll pick a subject that I don’t know enough about and I’ll get myself educated in like 22 minutes or 25 minutes,” said Crow. “I use it for basically quick analysis of really complicated things that I don’t have enough facts [for].”
Crow also revealed that he has used AI to write 20 white papers since November. He’s also used AI to create multiple architectural proposals: one for a site in Hawaii near the village of Javi, another for an addition to the West Valley campus in Phoenix.
ASU literature professor Chris Hanlon was one of the first to raise awareness of ASU Atomic. Hanlon told 404 Media that no professors he’d spoken with had given their permission for this generative content.
“None of the ASU faculty whose course materials were harvested for the module I generated were aware that their image, lectures, lessons, or other teaching materials are being used,” posted Hanlon on Bluesky.
Hanlon said the course materials were pulled from Canvas, a course management system. Hanlon criticized the AI-generated clips as error-laden, jumbled, lacking context, and confused.
“Concerning the course itself, there’s no throughline I can see; none of the videos really speak to one another — it’s a mishmash, though the individual lessons that comprise it probably make a lot more sense in their original context,” said Hanlon.
The ASU Atomic website says the tool relies on content pulled from the ASU Online library.
“If ASU teaches it, Atom — your AI learning partner — can build a hyper-personalized learning module around it,” stated the Atomic.
Since 404 Media broke their investigative report, ASU closed off new signups. Instead, interested users or curious onlookers will have to join a waitlist.
Faculty asked Crow about the AI tool during a recent faculty Q&A following that initial report, as later revealed by Inside Higher Ed. According to Crow, the tool remains an early-stage experimental project without substantial promotion.
ASU Atom told Inside Higher Ed that its model was built on Anthropic’s Claude. ASU has declined to speak on the training and development of the tool.
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The Arizona Republican Party is questioning why Attorney General Kris Mayes hasn’t taken action against her fellow Democrat, Gov. Katie Hobbs, over an alleged pay-to-play arrangement.
Mayes is investigating Hobbs over allegations that she awarded a unique rate increase by the Department of Children Services (DCS) to Sunshine Residential Homes, a group home operator, following sizable donations to her gubernatorial campaign and the Arizona Democratic Party. Mayes asked to interview Hobbs this week, but it appears the governor may decline that invitation.
Republican support for Mayes investigating Hobbs has been a whiplash; certain lawmakers and state leaders contended it was best for Mayes to recuse herself given their close party ties.
Hobbs spokesman Christian Slater told the Arizona Republic that Hobbs declined to comment on her decision to sit for an interview. Slater said the lack of evidence proving Hobbs’ knowledge of the rate increase meant there was no proof of her guilt.
Sunshine Residential Homes donated more than $400,000 to Hobbs and the Arizona Democratic Party. After Hobbs took office, DCS awarded the operator a 30% rate increase. Officials say the details of DCS actions surrounding the rate increase were suspicious: no other group homes received rate increases; other group homes’ rate averages fell below Sunshine Residential Homes; and DCS ended state contracts with 16 group homes.
In a new statement released on Wednesday, the Arizona Republican Party called on Mayes to keep up the pressure on Hobbs by putting aside any political favoritism. The party also urged the governor to cooperate with investigators.
The party’s chairman, Sergio Arellano, said Hobbs’ actions were consistent with corruption.
“Governor Hobbs has spent years lecturing Arizonans about ethics while her own administration was allegedly steering millions in taxpayer dollars to a generous donor,” said Arellano. “The fact that her campaign manager was dining with the contractor’s CEO as the deal was finalized only adds to the stench of a pay-to-play scheme that puts special interests ahead of Arizona’s most vulnerable children in state care. Hobbs owes the people of Arizona full transparency and cooperation with this criminal probe, not more stonewalling and self-serving denials.”
The Republican-led Arizona House launched an independent investigation into the pay-to-play allegations earlier this year. They are working with Mayes and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell on the investigation; Mayes and Mitchell began investigating nearly two years ago.
The results of the legislature’s investigation will go to the advisory team created in the aftermath of 2024 investigative reporting that outlined the alleged pay-to-play scheme. The advisory team will coordinate the parallel investigations from Mitchell and Mayes to work out a conclusion on the matter.
Hobbs derided the legislative investigation in a statement to The Center Square as the “same old partisan games” by “extremist legislators” spreading misinformation. The governor has repeatedly denied any involvement with the DCS decision.
“I’m looking forward to the conclusion of this investigation which I know will show what reporting has confirmed that I was not involved in the decision and that DCS acted in the best interest of Arizona’s foster children,” said Hobbs in a Tuesday statement.
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Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne is pleading with the state legislature to approve an additional $40 million for school safety.
Horne said in a Monday press release that those proposed millions are just the minimum that hardly reflects the outsized need on Arizona’s campuses for security.
Superintendent Horne said the latest deadline for school safety grant requests yielded a demand of over 800 counselors or social workers and over 700 officers. He said the funding needed to fulfill the cost of these requests would amount to nearly $187 million.
Under Horne’s administration, the number of armed officers under the School Safety Program (SSP) grew from just over 100 to nearly 500—nearly five times the size in just three years. SSP determines the distribution of resources through competitive, state-funded grants lasting three-year cycles.
Horne said that the best model for the SSP is to have officers present to work alongside the certified mental health counselors. There are nearly 600 counselors and social workers that work alongside the nearly 500 armed officers at over 1,100 locations statewide.
There are over 1,500 district public schools and over 500 public charter schools in the state. Over 1 million students attend these schools, and nearly 60,700 educators that teach in them.
The average SSO salary according to the fiscal year 2027 FAQ runs at about $157,000.
“If the funding isn’t there to provide for them, and then a tragedy happens in one of those schools, that would be a terrible occurrence,” said Horne. “Any school that asks for a police officer should be able to get one to defend the students, to defend the staff and the teachers.”
Superintendent Horne cited the recent near-tragedy that occurred in Oklahoma earlier this month. An unarmed high school principal, Kirk Moore, confronted and stopped an adult former student, Victor Lee Hawkins, who was attempting to shoot up the school. Moore survived the encounter with a gunshot wound to the leg; no fatalities occurred.
He also cited the 2012 tragedy out of New England, where another principal made a similar attempt to stop a gunman and lost her life in the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. An elementary school principal, Dawn Hochsprung, was shot and killed by gunman Adam Lanza as she confronted him.
Both cases, Horne says, justified his argument that every Arizona school requires an armed officer to prevent injuries or deaths.
“My biggest nightmare is that an armed maniac gets onto a school campus and kills people. Just a few weeks ago, a heroic principal in Oklahoma subdued an armed gunman at a school and was wounded in the process. While we praise his actions, having unarmed teachers be the first line of defense is not acceptable,” said Horne.
Horne said that current law will ensure those 500 armed officers remain funded, but that no new funding will mean no additional officers and, further, will mean a loss of funding for the nearly 600 counselors and social workers.
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On Monday, House Republicans put forth what they called a balanced budget of $17.9 billion.
By Tuesday, Gov. Katie Hobbs said the proposal was all but dead.
The leaders of both chambers characterized their budget as uniquely reflective of total conformity with federal tax law — no other states adopted the entire slate of tax cuts — which Hobbs doubted could be accomplished. They estimated tax relief would amount to $1.5 billion over the next three years, and Republicans claim working families would feel the most benefit from the cuts.
“Politics are easy; governing is harder. We chose governing,” said Sen. President Warren Petersen (R-LD14). “We’re moving a budget that cuts taxes, funds core services, shrinks government, includes priorities both sides have raised, and gives Arizona a full path to finish the session.”
As budget talks have failed to progress in a meaningful way, the legislature stagnates under the weight of a bill moratorium.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Hobbs did acknowledge Republicans for working with her to adopt certain components of her preferred budget like middle class tax cuts and reductions to childcare cost. However, she disputed Republican leaders on their claims of fiscal responsibility.
She accused Republicans of siding with “billionaires, data centers, and special interests” as well as “kicking Arizonans off their healthcare and taking food off their tables.” The governor said she won’t engage in negotiations further unless they adopt her preferred budget.
Contentious aspects of the Republican-proposed budget included cuts to state agency budgets, and SNAP and Medicaid program funding.
“Until they also engage in good-faith negotiations rather than attempting to force through a partisan budget, I will be closely monitoring the situation in the coming days to determine whether the legislative majority is willing to negotiate in good-faith bipartisan negotiations and have the bill moratorium lifted,” said Hobbs.
NEW: @GovernorHobbs reacts to the newly released Republican budget: “Just like in Washington, they’re paying for tax breaks for billionaires, data centers and special interests by kicking Arizonans off their healthcare and taking food off their tables.” pic.twitter.com/8UlFIqa5S1
Hobbs also discussed the budget talks during a press conference for a separate topic on Tuesday, Reentry 2030. Hobbs tentatively praised Republicans for some concessions on their part, but generally was critical of them for balking at her $18.7 billion spending plan. A key part of that plan Hobbs hopes to win through in budget talks concerns draining the public land trust to boost K-12 education funding.
“I’m glad to see the Republicans have shown their budget proposal, there’s some things I’m encouraged about in their proposal, but across-the-board agency cuts is not one of them,” said Hobbs. “I’m hopeful that we can get back to the table and start having real conversations about a budget that works for Arizona.”
Legislative leaders have said Hobbs’ proposal is a nonstarter because the Public Land Trust was intended for long-term funding. Hobbs’ plan intends to renew funding through the yet-approved Proposition 123. Senate President Petersen said Hobbs’ plan wasn’t feasible and would push the state $1.5 million further into debt.
“We’re spending about $800 million less than what the governor has proposed, and the governor has proposed to raise taxes,” said House Speaker Montenegro (R-LD29) in an interview with Fox News.
“[H]er math doesn’t work,” said Petersen.
Hobbs has vetoed tax conformity efforts and walked away from budget negotiations multiple times since the start of the year.
The legislature began hearing budget bills on Tuesday during a joint hearing of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees.
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