By Alia Beard Rau | The Arizona Republic
Arizona has led the nation in recent years with laws targeting illegal immigrants, abortions and school choice.
But being the first comes with a cost.
Lawsuits defending some of the state’s most controversial laws have cost millions of dollars and thousands of hours of state employee time, diverting them from other important work.
And with some lawsuits ongoing — and state lawmakers continuing to test the legal boundaries — costs will continue to climb.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne blames the number of lawsuits in recent years, at least partly, on what he said appears to be the Obama administration’s agenda against Arizona. Gov. Jan Brewer’s office says such lawsuits are sometimes the cost of doing the right thing. The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, which has challenged the state in several of the cases, blames a Legislature and governor that it says are too willing to ignore the U.S. Constitution.
But some of these cases precede the current Republican state leadership and go back to the days of Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Terry Goddard.
The Attorney General’s Office is obligated to defend legal challenges to any state law or voter-approved measure, either with in-house attorneys or by hiring outside legal firms to help.
“There would be no one else to defend it,” Horne said. “It’s our responsibility.”
