For Judge John Nelson of Yuma County Superior Court, there weren’t many options in his county for dealing with mentally ill criminal defendants who violated probation.

He and his fellow judges often were limited to just sending them to prison.

The Arizona Supreme Court is set to hear arguments June 4 in a case that will determine the financial future of Arizona’s employee pensions.

Whatever the Supreme Court decides in Fields v. Elected Officials Retirement Plan will also settle two other lawsuits sparked by SB1609, a 2011 law that overhauled state pensions, and determine whether retirees will continue to receive generous cost-of-living increases.

Voters in the 2014 general election will decide whether Arizona can reject federal actions and programs that the Legislature or the voters deem unconstitutional.

A lawsuit challenging a 2012 state law that would require Arizona’s local governments to move their elections to even-numbered years is now on track to go to trial.

PHOENIX (AP) — A former mining company executive has testified it was fishy that then-Congressman Rick Renzi insisted during a 2005 phone conservation that a proposed exchange involving federal land sought by the executive’s company needed to include a particular piece of privately owned property.

A newly formed commission for choosing judicial nominees in Pinal County doesn’t meet state constitutional requirements that set the composition of the panel, legal experts say.

The current Arizona Supreme Court has the potential to become the longest sitting court since the state stopped electing justices.

The crop of justices averages 56 years old. The earliest any of them reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 will be 2021.

A jury has begun hearing testimony in the trial of former U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi.

Gov. Jan Brewer has appointed three attorneys to serve on the Pima County Superior Court.

A judge ruled that the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office lacks to the authority to pursue campaign finance allegations against Tom Horne and a top aide, giving the attorney general at least a temporary reprieve.