It was a victory that rang out across the nation—when leftist bureaucrats illegally shut down home building in Phoenix, Ariz., in the name of environmental activism, the Goldwater Institute jumped into action and stopped them. Now, Goldwater has been recognized for its achievement with the prestigious Bob Williams “Guardian of Liberty” Award from the State Policy Network (SPN).
When Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration imposed a new rule on homebuilders requiring them to show a 100-year supply of groundwater across the entire Maricopa County water management area—not just at the site of their proposed development—housing construction effectively came to a halt. The problem was the Hobbs administration never had the authority to impose the rule without legislative authorization or following the state’s formal rulemaking process. Goldwater challenged the illegal rule in court, and earlier this year a Maricopa judge struck it down.
Goldwater’s victory “reaffirmed a principle that reaches far beyond Arizona: Government agencies must follow the law, and not make it,” according to SPN, a network of liberty-oriented state policy organizations. Activist bureaucrats across the nation should take note: The Goldwater Institute will always be there to hold them in check when they overstep their bounds and impose illegal policies on the people.
Read more here.
Where there is a right, there is a legal remedy. That was the Goldwater Institute’s message this week at the Arizona Supreme Court, where Goldwater attorneys stood up for the right of Professor Owen Anderson to sue Arizona State University for forcing employees to take an illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion training.
The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit on Professor Anderson’s behalf after ASU required employees to take its discriminatory “Inclusive Communities” training in violation of a state law that bars trainings that cast blame or judgement based on race, ethnicity, or sex. The trial court allowed the claim to proceed, but astonishingly the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that the statute doesn’t allow Professor Anderson to sue.
That’s not the law—it’s a fundamental principle that if a legal right exists, so does the right to enforce it. “If the effect of a law is that it can’t be enforced … then the policy is simply meaningless. And that’s a problem,” Goldwater Vice President of Litigation Jon Riches told the justices.
This was the Goldwater Institute’s 16th appearance before the Arizona Supreme Court.
Read more here.
Thousands of students now have access to the tools they need to pursue high-quality instruction in U.S. history and to develop an appreciation for America’s constitutional system thanks to the Goldwater Institute’s new American Civics Initiative grant program. The novel campaign was launched earlier this year by Goldwater’s Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy and just announced its first awards.
As part of the initiative, two Arizona school districts—Queen Creek Unified and Peoria Unified—along with other public charter and private schools are receiving more than 2,500 hardback Land of Hope textbooks; enough for every student taking U.S. history. They are also receiving curricular supports, university faculty-led teacher professional development, and $3,000 teacher stipends. With nearly 50,000 students enrolled across the participating school systems, the American Civics Initiative grant will provide a generation of students with high-quality resources as they rise through successive grades.
Leaders in the Queen Creek and Peoria districts publicly praised the initiative as “exciting” and a “massive opportunity.” The Goldwater Institute and the Van Sittert Center for Constitutional Advocacy look forward to continuing to grow this program so today’s students can become tomorrow’s civically informed leaders.
Click here to learn more about this year’s grants. And click here to learn more about the Goldwater Institute’s American Civics Initiative.
