Sent from Darcy Olsen, President and CEO of the Goldwater Institute:

I write with the wonderful news that after two years of hard work culminating in a two-day trial, today we received a ruling from the Maricopa County Superior Court striking down union “release time.” The court ruled that the diversion of taxpayer dollars--in this case, taking police officers off the streets and placing them at the disposal of public unions--is unconstitutional under the Gift Clause of the Arizona Constitution. The ruling should have very widespread impact because union release time is a national practice and dozens of states have gift clauses in their constitution. This is a huge new tool in the battle against public union abuses.

The injunction entered earlier in the case has already been appealed, so we have a long way yet to go. But this is a ruling to savor, and you can read it in its entirety here. We could not do this work without your support, for which we and taxpayers everywhere are grateful.

Thank you,

Darcy Olsen