Judge Katherine Cooper from the Maricopa County Superior Court heard the lawsuit filed by a coalition of organizations including the Arizona School Boards Association, the Children’s Action Alliance, the Arizona Education Association, and the Arizona Advocacy Network filed a legal complaint in Superior Court on Monday.
The suit asks the court for Injunctive Relief on the portions of the health and K-12 budget bills that prohibit school districts from implementing universal masking policies.
The action rightly points out that the legislature passed, and the governor signed three budget bills (HB 2898, SB 1824, and SB 1825) that “… include substantive policy provisions that have nothing to do with the budget” in direct violation of the state constitution.
Here’s a School guest blog from James Hodge, Jr J.D., LL.M., the Peter Kiewit Foundation Professor of Law and Director, Center for Public Health Law and Policy, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University that explains the suit.
Expect that regardless of how Judge Cooper rules that the case will be quickly appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court. I expect a Preliminary Injunction stopping the implementation of Ducey’s harmful policy on 9/29 will be issued pending a final ruling on the merits of the case.
The case has far-reaching implications. If the court holds that the Budget Bills were unconstitutional because they violate the single subject requirement, then those aspects of the BRB that pertain to the case will need to be excised.
The court could even rule that the budget reconciliation bills (BRBs) are unconstitutional in their entirety, which would result in a special legislative session to draw up a new state budget for 2022.
