May 9, 2018 / Modified may 9, 2018 1:31 p.m.

Appeals Court Won't Block Arizona Law Targeting Initiatives

A panel of judges agreed the case is not "ripe" for a challenge.

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AZPM Staff

PHOENIX — The Arizona Court of Appeals won't revive a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a 2017 state law tightening the legal standard for challenges to citizen initiatives.

The ruling confirms a lower court ruling that threw out the lawsuit because there were no pending initiatives that would be affected by the new standard. The three-judge panel agreed Tuesday that the case is not "ripe" for a challenge.

Groups that backed previous initiatives argued they would be hard-pressed to get them on the ballot under the new law. They said the law was unconstitutional.

The trial court and the court of appeals did not decide the Constitutional question.

The Legislature's lawyer has said the Republican-controlled Legislature was allowed to overrule decades of state Supreme Court precedent holding initiative efforts to lower legal standards.

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