Arizona high court upholds ruling blocking school mask bans

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a lower court judgment that found the Republican-controlled Legislature violated the state constitution by including new laws banning school mask mandates and a series of other measures in unrelated budget bills.

The swift ruling from the state's high court came less than two hours after the seven justices heard arguments in the state's appeal of a trial court judge's ruling. The justices had hammered Solicitor General Beau Roysden with questions about the Legislature's inclusion of policy as different as dog racing and secure ballot paper in one of the budget bills.

The state constitution says each bill must cover but one subject with each item properly connected to others. Separately, the titles of each bill must reflect the contents and give lawmakers and the public adequate notice of what's included.

The decision will have far-reaching ramifications for the Legislature. Republicans who control the Senate and House have worked around that requirement for years, slipping policy items into budget bills. This year, the Legislature was particularly aggressive and packed the 11 bills that make up the budget with a hodgepodge of conservative policy items, some of which had failed as standalone bills.

The court upheld a September ruling from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper that blocked the school mask ban and a host of other provisions in the state budget package from taking effect. Cooper found that provisions in three budget bills — including the ban on school mask mandates — violated the title rule. She blocked those provisions while allowing the rest of the bills funding education, universities and health to take effect.

She entirely struck down another budget bill because it violated the single subject rule. The...