Arizona: Law and Order 1912-2012 Quiz

Answer: Water

The "Water Wars" in the western U.S. started with the 1907 Supreme Court ruling in the case of Kansas v. Colorado, in which the Supreme Court decreed that states had an equality of rights to water flowing through their states. The states with entitlements to the Colorado River continued to battle over their shares until the case of Arizona v. California confirmed Arizona's entitlement and let to the establishment of the Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile long canal bringing Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson.

Answer: In tents

Besides making prisoners wear pink underwear, eat green bologna and work on chain gangs, Sheriff Joe started housing prisoners in large, military-style tents in 1993. Called "Tent City", the prisoners would even reside outside in the tents during the heat of the summer.

The conditions brought about lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union alleging that pre-trial detainees and inmates were being held in substandard and unhealthy conditions; the U.S. District Court (2008 and 2010) and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (2010) agreed, and Arpaio continued to be the subject of Justice Department investigations for other violations including racial profiling and abuse-of-power.

Answer: Miranda v. Arizona

The Miranda Warning was the result of the 1966 Supreme Court case "Miranda v. Arizona" in which Arizona native Ernesto Miranda sued to have his conviction for kidnapping, rape and robbery overturned because he hadn't been informed of his rights before signing a confession.

Although his conviction was overturned in the 5-4 Supreme Court decision, he was retried and convicted. After his parole in 1972, he sold autographed Miranda warning cards. He was stabbed to death during a bar fight in Phoenix in 1976.

His murderer was never caught.

Answer: Slapping a Harley Davidson salesman/cage fighter

Known for his exercise videos and for wearing a tank top with short shorts, Simmons was arrested in 2004 at Sky Harbor International Airport for slapping a 6'2"/ 255 lb Harley Davidson salesman/cage fighter who was mocking him. The "victim" claimed he was just recognizing Simmons for his "Sweating to the Oldies" videos. The case was later dropped at the request of the victim.

Answer: They were wards of the government.

Arizona was among several states that denied Native Americans the right to vote despite the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act. Some states justified their denial on a lack of English proficiency, but the reason upheld in the Arizona case Porter v. Hall (1928) was that Native Americans were wards of the government and thus unable to vote in accordance with the Arizona State Constitution. Arizona granted Native Americans the right to vote in 1948 as a result of the Harrison v. Laveen court case in which the state Supreme Court overruled Porter v. Hall.

Answer: Arizona didn't require pre-marital blood tests.

In the 1930s, states began requiring pre-marital blood test for herpes, and California was among the first to do so. The nearest place for celebrities to go for a quick marriage without the tests was the border town of Yuma, Arizona. Among those who crossed the border to get married were John Barrymore , Errol Flynn, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Tom Mix, Loretta Young, Gloria Swanson, Charles Boyer, Carole Landis and studio boss Louis B. Mayer. Stan Laurel (of Laurel and Hardy fame) had three of his five marriages in Arizona - two in Yuma and one in Florence. Yuma lost its popularity when Arizona enacted a similar blood test law in the 1950s (the law was repealed in 1984).

Answer: John Dillinger

Dillinger had been hiding out at Tucson's Hotel Congress when a fire broke out on January 21st, 1934. He and his gang escaped the fire but then gave the firemen money to retrieve their heavy baggage (which was filled with guns) from the building. Stories vary but most state that a fireman recognized members of Dillinger's gang in a magazine he was reading, and the police arrested Dillinger and his gang at a rented house soon after and shipped Dillinger back to Chicago. Tucson commemorates the event with its annual "Dillinger Days 1934 Street Festival" in January.

Answer: First woman Chief Justice of a state supreme court

Although she passed the State Bar exam in 1925, Lockwood worked as a legal stenographer for the next fourteen years since she couldn't find work as a lawyer. In 1939, she decided to enter politics and was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.

She became a trial judge in 1951, a state Supreme Court justice in 1961, and in 1965, Lockwood became the first female Chief Justice of a state supreme court in the US. She apparently was almost nominated by Lyndon Johnson to be the first woman on the US Supreme Court, but Johnson instead selected Thurgood Marshall, the first black American to sit on the high court.

Answer: Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Martin Luther King, Jr. Day" was first recognized as a paid holiday in Arizona in 1986 by an executive order of then governor Bruce Babbitt. The following year, the new governor, Evan Mecham, rescinded the order, claiming it was illegal because the legislature hadn't approved it, which then set off several years of bickering over the holiday.

In 1990, the issue finally went to the voters. Earlier the same year, Arizona was awarded the 1993 Super Bowl (that's the championship for American gridiron football) with the unwritten stipulation that the voters needed to approve the holiday.

A combination of ultra-right-wing voters and voters not keen on being told how to vote doomed the measure, and the holiday was rejected, resulting in the loss of the Super Bowl. Boycotts of Arizona followed, and two years later, voters finally approved the holiday where it is celebrated as "Martin Luther King, Jr./Civil Rights Day".

While the holiday is celebrated nationwide under various names, Arizona was the first state to do so through the voting box rather than the legislature.

Answer: Killing two friends and shipping them to Los Angeles

Known as the "Trunk Murderess", Judd was sentenced to death for killing two friends in Phoenix and shipping them to Los Angeles in 1931, but she was instead sent to the Arizona State Hospital (mental institution) until her release in 1971. Subsequent investigations have raised doubt about her conviction; some sources believe that Phoenix businessman and playboy, Jack Halloran, may have been involved in the murders.

Incidentally, chopping down saguaros without permits is also a crime in Arizona, but people are rarely hanged for it.