Arizona Appeals Court Bars County Records Lawsuit

The California Supreme Court rejected the State Bar’s proposal to automatically expunge older attorney-discipline records and declined plans to lower fines for disbarred and suspended lawyers, leaving those records on public bar profiles amid scrutiny of the bar’s handling of the Tom Girardi thefts; the court offered no explanation. In Arizona, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell asked a court to overturn the state’s anti‑SLAPP law, arguing its unique application to criminal cases unlawfully intrudes on prosecutorial discretion and violates the Victims’ Bill of Rights; the statute has been invoked in several high-profile matters. The Arizona Court of Appeals unanimously dismissed Santa Cruz County’s preemptive lawsuit against AUDIT‑USA as non‑justiciable, ruling governments cannot sue citizens for making public-records requests and warning such suits would chill transparency. A trial judge had awarded AUDIT‑USA $20,000 in fees in the case but declined to impose additional sanctions. Separately, the president’s Compact for Academic Excellence — which asks universities to adopt policy commitments in exchange for research-preference federal funding — drew criticism from Gov. Katie Hobbs as bordering on censorship, prompting debate at institutions such as the University of Arizona.