Week in Review: Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?

Their children were thriving under Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, which allowed these homeschool moms to customize their kids’ education around their unique needs. Then, Attorney General Kris Mayes changed the rules and blocked their purchases of kids’ books, basic school supplies, and even the U.S. Constitution.

The Goldwater Institute is helping Velia Aguirre and Rosemary McAtee fight this illegal overreach with a new lawsuit. “I feel like the AG clearly doesn’t have any interest in what an education looks like for a homeschool child,” Rosemary says in a new Goldwater video.

Tens of thousands of families have joined Arizona’s ESA program, which the Goldwater Institute created and later expanded to every family in the state. School choice opponents want to take that away and dismantle the ESA program, brick by brick.

We won’t let them.

Read more here.

Why Won’t the Government Let Him Adopt?

File this under: “Laws that only make sense to the government.”

A Wisconsin man wants to adopt his partner’s teenage daughter. The state admits he’s a good dad, and the teenager and her mom are on board—but state law says he can’t. You see, Wisconsin law allows unmarried couples to adopt—but if an unmarried person is in a relationship with the child’s parent, so that the child considers him her father…that’s not allowed.

This week, the Goldwater Institute and our American Freedom Network of pro bono attorneys urged the U.S. Supreme Court to vindicate the rights of adoptive families, who shouldn’t be subject to nonsensical laws that put their rights at risk.

Read more here.

Know Your Arizona Ballot 2024

Here’s where the Goldwater Institute stands on the following measures that will be on the ballot for Arizona voters in 2024.

YES on Prop 134—Arizona Fair Ballot Act: Prop 134 protects our ballot from out-of-state special interests, who can put their extreme measures on the ballot with signatures from just Maricopa County, by requiring signatures for ballot propositions to come from each legislative district.

YES on Prop 312—Keep Arizona’s Neighborhoods Safe: Prop 312 holds local leaders accountable for refusing to enforce the law amid the homeless crisis, allowing property owners to claim a refund for mitigation expenses like installing fences and hiring security.

NO on Prop 140—Preserve the Integrity of Our Elections: Funded by out-of-state special interests, Prop 140 would eliminate our system of “one person one vote” and replace it with an arbitrary ranking system—resulting in confusing ballots, delayed election results, increased litigation, and voter disenfranchisement.

Read more here.