The U.S. Supreme Court saved one of the biggest opinions of the term for its second-to-last day, and its decision triggered reactions on both sides of the aisle in Arizona.
When the nation’s high court handed down its highly anticipated ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, it made a significant correction in the standards for admissions systems used by public universities around the United States. The Court held that race-based standards in Harvard’s and UNC’s admissions programs “violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
Writing for the majority coalition of the Court, Chief Justice John Roberts stated, “…the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual – not on the basis of race. Many universities have for too long done just the opposite. And in doing so, they have concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
The historic decision by the Supreme Court, drew reactions from Arizona’s politicians on both side of the aisle.
In response to an inquiry from AZ Free News, Senate President Warren Petersen replied, “This is a great decision for the fight against discrimination. The highest court in the land agreed with Martin Luther King Jr. in that you should not be judged by the color of your skin. An individual should be considered for college admissions based on academics, experience, qualifications and character—not by race. I’m thrilled this ruling will bring some sanity back to institutions of higher learning.”
Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope told AZ Free News, “SCOTUS made the right decision today. As the proud son of a Mexican American mother and a white father of German ancestry, our family always knew that we should be judged on our character and not our color. We’re all Americans and we all share a responsibility in keeping this country free of racism & bigotry.”
Sadly, this isn’t a parody account. Just a Biden Field Organizer telling us how she feels… https://t.co/SIAnwArZeR
Democrats, however, took issue with the Court’s ruling. Senate Democratic Leader Mitzi Epstein released a statement after the opinion’s revelation, saying, “Affirmative Action has never been about jumping to the front of the line without any merit. It has been about providing a ladder of equity to help those who have faced adversity in education, the workplace, housing, and every aspect of American life. Affirmative Action has been about providing opportunities for students who are Black and Brown to attend colleges, and for college students to live, love and learn among diverse peers. The same people celebrating this bad Court decision have been actively trying to whitewash history and walk America back to the book-burning past. SCOTUS did not rule against legacy admissions, employee and family recommendations, and grandiose donor admissions. The Court ruled to allow favoritism, but not favoritism for those who have faced racist obstacles. The Court ruled for the favored to get more favors, just as Republican politicians have pushed ways for the rich to get richer, and for the powerful to get more power.”
“The Court ruled for the favored to get more favors, just as Republican politicians have pushed ways for the rich to get richer, and for the powerful to get more power." -Senate Democratic Leader @MitziEpsteinpic.twitter.com/C985mrcA0O
— Arizona Senate Democrats (@AZSenateDems) June 30, 2023
Democrat Representative Analise Ortiz called the Court’s opinion “devastating,” adding that “this ruling upholds white supremacy in higher education and the workforce. Simultaneously, the efforts to privatize K-12 education and drain public schools of funding achieve the same end. We must fight back to ensure racial equity in education.”
Devastating. This ruling upholds white supremacy in higher education and the workforce. Simultaneously, the efforts to privatize K-12 education and drain public schools of funding achieve the same end. We must fight back to ensure racial equity in education. https://t.co/r5iKn6WTB5
— Rep. Analise Ortiz (@RepAnaliseOrtiz) June 29, 2023
Kimberly Yee, the State’s Republican Treasurer, also weighed in on the news of the day, writing, “I applaud the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to keep merit, character and academic achievement the center point of college admissions. The American Dream is attained by putting in the honest, hard work. No one should be able to cut ahead of the line in the name of affirmative action, based on the color of their skin. This decision upholds the core Constitutional principle that no institution in America is allowed to discriminate based on race.”
Today I issued the following statement upon the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision to overturn affirmative action in the college admissions process. pic.twitter.com/ZY3QfNwjMk
Arizona’s Republican Legislative Leaders continue to fight in federal court on behalf of state laws.
On Monday, House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen filed an amicus brief for the case Toomey v. State of Arizona, seeking “to protect Arizona’s recently-enacted statute prohibiting gender reassignment surgeries for minors.”
— Arizona House Republicans (@AZHouseGOP) July 11, 2023
In a statement about the amicus brief, Speaker Toma said, “Although Governor Hobbs and I may disagree on matters of policy, state statute prevails over any statements or executive orders from the Governor. Given that Arizona law prohibits gender reassignment surgeries for anyone under 18, Governor Hobbs cannot expressly or implicitly undo Arizona’s statutory prohibition, through litigation or otherwise. It was critical that the legislature provide this important perspective, which the parties neglected to address in their proposed settlement.”
According to the release issued by Speaker Toma about the submission of the court filing, the amicus brief “seeks to protect Arizona’s statutory mandate by encouraging the court to narrowly interpret the governor’s executive order to avoid a conflict with current law, and it also urges the court to reject the parties’ unreasonable agreement to award $500,000 in taxpayer monies for the plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees.”
The Speaker’s release added that Hobbs’ recent Executive Order, which requires “the state employee health care plan to cover gender reassignment surgeries,” made “no mention of A.R.S. 32-3230, a law that the legislature passed and was signed last year by then-Governor Ducey which prohibits irreversible gender reassignment surgeries for minors.”
That law was the result of SB 1138, which was sponsored by Petersen in 2022. In a letter to then-Secretary of State Hobbs, Ducey wrote, “Distinguishing between an adult and a child in law, as this bill does, is not unique. Throughout law, children are protected from making irreversible decisions, including buying certain products or participating in activities that can have lifelong health implications. These decisions should be made when an individual reaches adulthood. Further, many doctors who perform these procedures on adults agree it is not within the standards of care to perform these procedures on children. The irreversible nature of these procedures underscores why such a decision should be made as an adult, not as a child, and further supports the importance of this legislation.”
Last month, Hobbs signed three Executive Orders that generated significant controversy, including the one in focus for Toma and Petersen’s amicus brief. After the governor’s action, Petersen tweeted, “Instead of helping struggling AZ families plagued by inflation, the governor just issued an order for taxpayers to cover the cost of elective, sex reassignment surgeries. This illegal, out of touch, unprecedented overreach did not receive proper JLBC review as required by law.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
As Arizona’s hot summer drags on, the state’s Senate Republican Caucus continues to work for their constituents, making positive strides to break through a divided government.
On Monday, the Arizona Senate Republican Caucus shared a legislative update “in an effort to provide continued transparency to the media and the public on outstanding issues remaining for the Fifty-sixth Legislature – First Regular Session.” The update highlighted six issues, giving important information on things that have happened behind the scenes.
The first issue was a meeting between Governor Katie Hobbs and Senate President Warren Petersen. The Caucus wrote, “Following President Petersen’s meeting request, he met with Governor Hobbs on Friday and the meeting went well. While there must be consequences for overreaching executive action, we are optimistic on finding a way to move forward in a bipartisan manner that benefits all of Arizona.”
Petersen had transmitted a letter to the Governor’s Office with the meeting request before the July 4th holiday break, following Hobbs’ controversial abortion executive order and a response from some Senate Republicans involving the future of her outstanding nominees for agency positions.
The second issue was about Prop 400, noting that “negotiations are continuing between the Senate, House and Governor’s Office with the common objective to pass a Prop 400 extension before sine die.” This revelation comes after Hobbs vetoed a legislative proposal from Legislative Republicans.
The third issue was water, which has been a huge topic of discussion between Republican and Democrat leaders around Arizona throughout this year. The Senate Republican Caucus noted that “Republican legislators are encouraged by the prospective of a state-driven solution to the current conditions on the Colorado River. To provide the requisite legislative authorization pursuant to A.R.S. § 45-106, Senate and House Leadership sent a letter to the Department of Water Resources on July 6th requesting details needed to act in a timely and efficient manner on the Lower Basin Plan.”
The fourth issue was nominations, and the Senate Republicans shared that their chamber “intends to confirm qualified director nominees.” No timetable was given for this intent, which is significant because of Senator Jake Hoffman’s stand-off with Hobbs over her nominees and the constitutionality of her abortion executive order.
The fifth issue was the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Study Committee on Water Security, which “will convene on Thursday, July 13 to hear testimony on the Phoenix Active Management Area Model and municipal water resource management.”
The sixth issue was the Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Study Committee on Air Quality and Energy, which “will convene on Thursday, July 13 to receive testimony on our state’s air quality implementation plan and the business impacts of air quality nonattainment.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Another Arizona state official is experiencing a high-profile staff departure just over six months after taking office.
On Monday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the resignation of her Chief of Staff, Amy Love, informing Arizonans that Love would soon be leaving her team.
In a statement, Mayes said, “Amy Love is an exceptional public servant, and I thank her for her service to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
The news about Love’s exit highlighted that her final day at the Attorney General’s Office would be August 7, 2023.
Mayes did not immediately indicate what her next move would be for filling the soon-to-be vacant position at the top of her team. Under former Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s administration, the Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy positions were jointly housed under one individual’s job responsibilities. Michael Bailey first held the Chief of Staff and Chief Deputy titles, and then Joe Kanefield, for Brnovich.
When Mayes assumed control of the Attorney General’s Office, she decided to create two positions from the Chief Deputy and Chief of Staff responsibilities. Dan Barr became Mayes’ Chief Deputy at the start of her tenure as the state’s top prosecutor. Love filled the Chief of Staff position.
Love previously worked for U.S. Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona, serving as his Outreach Director from February 2021 to January 2023.
Mayes’ loss within her staff nucleus follows a similar episode with Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs, who found herself without a Chief of Staff earlier this year. On May 25, Hobbs announced that Allie Bones would “be stepping down from her role…after four and a half years of public service with Hobbs” (mostly in the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office). At the time, Hobbs stated, “(Bones’) goal was to build a team that could work across the aisle to navigate divided government, and she accomplished that.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona’s Latino voters may be more likely to vote Republican in the 2024 presidential election, based on the latest surveys of Latino voters.
This voter shift was noted in a recent focus group conducted in Arizona and Nevada among Latinos that were either fluent in English or Spanish. The research discovered that narratives of President Joe Biden’s economic failures, as pointed out by Republicans, had significant influence on the voters.
“[They were] often feeling as though they were constantly working hard just to make ends meet due to the high cost of living,” read the report.
When asked to rank issues based on importance, Latino voters far outranked the economy, pricing, and jobs above social issues like “protecting democracy,” abortion, climate, immigration, guns, school safety, and public safety.
78 percent of respondents also admitted that they weren’t aware of any specific accomplishments by President Joe Biden or Democrats that directly helped them. That’s compared with 67 percent of Black voters who couldn’t identify specific benefits from Biden or the Democratic majority in Congress.
Specifically, a majority of the Latino respondents said that Biden and his “Bidenomics” had done “nothing” for them — in both languages.
Additionally, the Latino respondents believed that crime and public safety were more important to them than the Democratic Party.
When asked which party they would support for the 2024 elections, more than double the respondents remained undecided. The remainder expressed slightly more support for the Democratic Party over the Republican Party.
However, when pressed to cast their potential vote between Biden and a GOP candidate, more Arizona Latino respondents chose the unnamed GOP candidate over Biden.
The voters also expressed distrust of former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who they blamed for their concerns of discrimination and hate.
The focus group was conducted through Valiente Action Fund, a project of the Democratic action group Way to Win.
Way to Win launched in 2017 following Trump’s victory, with the sole purpose of serving as a national donor network to defeat Republicans. The co-founders are Tory Gavito, Jenifer Fernandez Ancona, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix.
Gavito formerly served in various legal and activist capacities across Austin, Texas and Zacatecas, Mexico: first as a lawyer for the Equal Justice Center in the early 2000s, prior to becoming the legal director of Centro de los Derechos del Migrante in Mexico. Gavito then became an associate attorney at the Glenda Pittman & Associates law firm, before becoming the founding executive director for Texas Future Project.
Fernandez Ancona was a former vice president for the Women Donors Network, communications director for Citizen Engagement Laboratory, and senior advisor to progressive donors Steve Phillips and Susan Sandler, consultant to Democracy Alliance.
Hunt-Hendrix — granddaughter of oil tycoon H.L. Hunt and niece of Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt — also co-founded progressive donor networks Solidaire and the Emergent Fund. Hunt-Hendrix also served as a senior advisor for the American Economic Liberties Project and was involved in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hunt-Hendrix is not listed currently on Way to Win’s team page, though she lists herself as a co-chair of the organization on LinkedIn as of this report.
The organization spent $110 million in 2020 on key swing states to successfully deliver Democratic victories. Their targeted funding was especially impactful in Arizona and Georgia.
Way to Win’s primary funders have included George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and family, Stryker Corporation heiress Patricia Stryker, prominent D.C. consulting firm Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty (1630) Fund, and the Tides Foundation-backed One Arizona.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
