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Gov. Jan Brewer on June 10 announced the appointment of assistant U.S. attorney Richard Gordon to the Pima County Superior Court.

A West Valley justice of the peace on June 2 dismissed criminal speeding charges filed against Brett Mecum. Mecum, the executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, was arrested at work and charged with criminal speeding and reckless driving last month after photo enforcement cameras captured images of Mecum driving more than 100 miles per hour on a Valley freeway.

Simple math collided with strides for diversity, merit and practicality as members of a state judicial commission began the process of narrowing a field of candidates that will soon be used to appoint Arizona’s next Supreme Court justice.

The Commission on Appellate Court Appointments has taken the initial step of narrowing down a field of candidates to become the next Arizona Supreme Court justice.

The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge of a legislative fund sweep that targeted money generated by a tobacco tax and intended to pay for children's health care. But in the same stroke on June 1, justices declined to address a dispute of a fund sweep protested by a state labor commission.

A panel of Arizona Court of Appeals judges has ruled unanimously that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is not entitled to review thousands of documents and e-mails sent by senior officials and staff of the Maricopa County Superior Court.

The Arizona Supreme Court agreed on June 1 to hear a challenge of an appellate court decision that found a $97-million tax rebate given to a real estate developer by the city of Phoenix violated the state's Constitution.

Renters don't have the same rights to compensation as landowners when the government takes property through eminent domain, at least not unless their leasing contracts specifically address the seldom-used property-seizing tool, according to the Arizona Court of Appeals.

A Maricopa County Sheriff's captain was fined $450 on May 26 after failing to convince an administrative law judge that he should be allowed to withhold the names of individual contributors to a group that gave a six-figure donation to the Arizona Republican Party last year.

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled the state's Independent Redistricting Commission acted properly in crafting legislative district boundaries that have been in use since 2002.