The Arizona Supreme Court today rejected lawmakers’ decision in 2009 to divert a portion of revenues from the state trust lands to pay for the operations of the State Land Department.

Arizona politics not only kept courts busy in 2012, but led to a landmark case in June when the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the state’s most prominent immigration policy.

Pinal County’s conversion to a new way of choosing judges is off to a rough start as Democrats show no interest in applying for the bench and volunteers are lacking for a nomination committee.

Henry Hall was on death row when police found the remains of Ted Lindberry in the desert west of Phoenix in March 2001.

Attorneys defending the state’s redistricting commission against allegations of open meeting law violations are touting an appellate court decision today as a victory. So is the county prosecutor who pursued the allegations.

Bill Myer paces, watching the crowd grow outside his Glendale storefront’s floor-to-ceiling windows. His son Ben is in the back, behind bulletproof walls and windows, preparing for a long-awaited opening.

Outside, people are joking about Sheriff Joe Arpaio coming to arrest them when sirens are momentarily heard in the distance. Many had wondered whether police would show up on this brisk December morning.

None do.

Following several close contests and two weeks of counting, Secretary Ken Bennett and other state officials today signed the official canvass and certified last month’s election results.

The move effectively ended the 2012 campaign cycle and heralded the start of the new one.

A surge in the number of dependency cases is overwhelming juvenile courts around the state, straining the foster-care system and prompting agencies in the child-welfare system to ask for millions more dollars for the next fiscal year.

The last of several lawsuits spawned by sweeps of dozens of specialized funds to balance the budget in 2009 was resolved with a Court of Appeals decision on Nov. 23 allowing the Legislature to raid workers’ compensation funds.

The only state Supreme Court justice on the retention ballot is striking back at Republicans calling for his removal because of a ruling on a ballot measure to change the state’s election system.

Republican committees in Legislative Districts 12 and 18 circulated flyers calling for a no vote for Justice John Pelander, a Republican who was Gov. Jan Brewer’s first selection to the Supreme Court in 2009.