Arkansas Supreme Court

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Arkansas Supreme Court
Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1836
Location:	Little Rock, Arkansas
Judicial selection
Method:	Non-partisan election of judges
Term:	8 years
Active justices
Jim Hannah  •  Donald Corbin  •  Paul Danielson  •  Karen Baker  •  Josephine Hart  •  Courtney Hudson Goodson  •  Cliff Hoofman  •
Former justices

Founded on July 4, 1836, the Arkansas Supreme Court is the state's court of last resort.

Justices

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by	Party
Chief Justice Jim Hannah	2001-2016
Associate Justice Donald Corbin	1991-2014
Associate Justice Paul Danielson	2006-2014
Associate Justice Karen Baker	2010-2018
Associate Justice Josephine Hart	2013-2021
Associate Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson	2010-2018
Associate Justice Cliff Hoofman	2013-2014	Gov. Mike Beebe

Jurisdiction

Article 7, Section 4 of the Arkansas Constitution describes the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. (This was later amended by Amendment 80, Section 2.) The court has appellate jurisdiction. It may transfer a case from lower courts in certain circumstances or bring special proceedings to the higher court as outlined in Article VI. The court also has a supervisory role over all other courts in the state, and the conduct of attorneys and over the practice of law within the state.

Judicial Selection

See also: Judicial selection in Arkansas

All justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court are elected for eight year terms in non-partisan elections. Justices serve staggered terms so that is unlikely the entire court be replaced in one election. Non-partisan elections were implemented in 2000 with the passage of Amendment 3. Vacancies are filled by interim appointments by the Governor of Arkansas under Amendment 29, Section 1 of the state constitution. Generally, appointed judges do not run for the seat in the general election.

The court consists of a Chief Justice, Vice Chief Justice and five Associate Justices. The Chief and Vice Chief are elected by their peers to five year renewable terms.

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications for election to the court are:

• At least 30 years old.
• Be of good moral character.
• Be learned in the law.
• Possess U.S. citizenship.
• Have been a resident of Arkansas for more than two years.
• Have practiced law for at least eight years preceding the date of assuming office.

Removal of justices

Justices can be removed in multiple ways:

• May be impeached by a majority vote of the Arkansas House of Representatives and summarily convicted by a two thirds vote of the Arkansas Senate the Arkansas Governor may then remove the judge based on the recommendations of the legislature.

• May be censured, suspended, removed, or retired based upon recommendation of the judicial discipline and disability commission. The Supreme Court may then decide whether to follow the recommendation.

Caseloads

Fiscal Year	Filings	Terminations	Pending cases at end of year
2009	320	366	189
2008	393	379	235
2007	396	407	221
2006	379	370	232

Salaries

The Associate Justices of the court earn $145,204 annually, while the Chief Justice earns $156,864.

Notable decisions

Death row inmate entitled to hearing, says Arkansas Supreme Court February 7, 2013 An Arkansas death row inmate who believes he has a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel is entitled to a hearing on the claim, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled on February 7. In 2009, Brandon Eugene Lacy was convicted of capital murder for the 2007 killing of Randall Walker using a knife, a fireplace poker, gasoline and a lighter. At trial, Lacy's attorney did not bring up the possibility that Lacy may have had mental health issues, nor was the possibility raised that Lacy might have had an alcohol addition that could cause blackouts. The trial court judge, Robin Green, ruled that Lacy's lawyer may have had strategic reasons for not calling particular witnesses who might have testified as to Lacy's mental and physical health. In a 6-1 decision, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that Lacy is entitled to an evidentiary hearing in front of a Benton County judge to test the merits of his claim that he was ineffectively represented by counsel. According to the high court, the fact that the trial judge used tentative language in her opinion, saying that Lacy "may" have had mental health issues and that expert witnesses "might" have presented inadmissible testimony, means that there are still questions to be answered. Chief Justice Jim Hannah, who wrote the opinion, stated that "Without benefit of an evidentiary hearing, we are left to surmise that trial counsel exercised reasonable professional judgment . . . This we will not do." The sole dissenter, Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson, wrote that in order to obtain a hearing for ineffective assistance of counsel, Lacy needed to show that his representation was so bad that it effectively denied him a fair trial. She continued, "The claimant must overcome a strong presumption that counsel's conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance," a standard that is often difficult for claimants to meet.

• Ezekiel George v. State and Chas. M. Hudspeth v. State were the first written decisions published by the court; both were appeals of indictments for operating houses of gambling.
• The court heard a suit against Wal-Mart in 1993 that claimed that its pricing practices were unfair to smaller pharmacies. The court ruled in Wal-Mart's favor.
• Jegley v. Picado (2002)

In this case, the court found Arkansas’s sodomy statute unconstitutional. This ruling removed the last laws that criminalized homosexual behavior.

• Dupree v. Alma School District No. 30 (1983)

The supreme court, "determined that the state’s method of funding public education was unconstitutional. Rejecting local control as an excuse for disparities in funding and in educational opportunities in the state’s school systems, the court demanded that Arkansas revise its funding statutes. The issue was visited again in 2002 in Lake View School Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee. The court again ruled the state’s school funding system unconstitutional, giving a deadline of January 1, 2004, to fix the problem. The state missed the deadline; after further court measures set a new deadline of December 2006, the legislature met in special session and found ways to increase funding of public schools and to consolidate school districts in order to meet the court-demanded requirements."

• In 1929 the court ruled, "that the Democratic Party was a private organization and therefore could make its own rules about who was allowed to be a member of the party." This ruling enabled the continuation of white-only primaries until the 1940s.
• Garrett v. Faubus (1959)

This case involved the court with the de-segregation crisis in Little Rock. The court upheld Act 4 by a narrow vote, "which had given the governor authority to close schools when he felt that they were threatened by violence."

• State v. Epperson (1967), an appeal to Epperson v. McDonald (1966)

"[T]he court heard challenges to Act 1 of 1928, which forbade the teaching of the theory of evolution in state schools. The court upheld the act, but the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court] overturned the decision the next year, criticizing the Arkansas Supreme Court for its reluctance to challenge public opinion and for not handling the case in a thorough and complete manner."

• Arkansas Supreme Court upholds water fee
• Building permit for coal power plant vetoed by Arkansas Supreme Court
• Arkansas Supreme Court upholds ruling on anonymous lawsuit
• Arkansas Supreme Court affirms ruling in national class action lawsuit
• Arkansas Supreme Court rules against state library

Access to court opinions

All opinions signed after July 1, 2009 are published opinions that may be cited as president and are available on the court's website. Before this opinions that were labeled "not designated for publication" could not be used to set president. The Supreme Court is the first court in the country to make electronic versions of their opinions the official versions.

History of the court

Arkansas became the 25th state in 1836, and Article VI, Section 1 of the state's original constitution vested the judicial power of the Arkansas “in one Supreme Court, in Circuit Courts, in County Courts and in Justices of the Peace.” The Arkansas Supreme Court originally had three justices; this included one Chief Justice. During this period, the Arkansas General Assembly elected the Supreme Court justices.

In 1861 Arkansas seceded from the Union, but the Supreme Court initially remained unchanged. In September 1863 Union soldiers were moving toward Little Rock; because of the threat to the Court and its records the Supreme Court and other state offices were moved to Washington, Arkansas (Hempstead County). After the end of the Civil War in 1865, a newly assembled Supreme Court returned to Little Rock.

In 1868 the Reconstruction constitution added two justices to the court, bringing the number of justices to five. Six years later, in 1874, Arkansas ratified their second and current constitution. Originally, this constitution called for only three Supreme Court justices, returning the number of justices to three, but a 1924 amendment re-raised the number of justices to five. The 1924 amendment, also known as Amendment 9, also gave the Arkansas General Assembly the power to increase the number of justices to seven. In 1925, the Assembly chose to exercise this power, raising the number of Supreme Court justices to seven through Act 205; this was the last expansion of the court.

Notable firsts

• Elsijane Trimble Roy, appointed in 1975, was the first woman to serve as an Arkansas Supreme Court justice. She was later appointed to the federal bench.
• George Howard Jr., appointed in 1977, was the first African-American justice. He later served on the federal bench.
• George Rose Smith was the longest-serving justice; he served from 1949 to 1987.
• When George Rose Smith joined the court in 1949, he joined Chief Justice Griffin Smith and Associate Justice Frank G. Smith. These three justices made-up an unprecedented trio of judges on the same state Supreme Court with the same last name.

External links

• Arkansas Supreme Court Official Site
• Arkansas Historical Society List of Supreme Court Judges

References

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2012

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Candidate	Incumbency	Position	Primary Vote	Election Vote
HartJosephine Hart   A	No		65.4%A	A
AbramsonRaymond Abramson	No	District 1, Position 2	34.6%

2010

Arkansas Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Position 6 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Karen Baker		206,365	48.4%
Tim Fox		156,953	36.8%
Evelyn Moorehead		63,450	14.9%

Arkansas Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Position 3 2010 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Courtney Henry		249,425	57.5%
John Fogleman		184,280	42.5%

• Click here for 2010 General Election Results from the Arkansas Secretary of State.

See Arkansas Supreme Court elections and Arkansas judicial elections, 2010 for more

2008

Arkansas Supreme Court, Chief Justice, Position 1 2008 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Jim Hannah		Approved
Unopposed

• Click here for 2008 General Election Results from the Arkansas Secretary of State.

2006

Arkansas Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Position 7 2006 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Robert L. Brown		Approved
Unopposed

Arkansas Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Position 2 2006 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Donald Corbin		193,625	62.8%
Roger Harrod		114,957	37.3%

Arkansas Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Position 5 2006 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Paul Danielson		177,406	57.2%
Wendell Griffen		132,789	42.8%

• Click here for 2006 General Election Results from the Arkansas Secretary of State.

2004

Arkansas Supreme Court, Chief Justice, Position 4 2004 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Jim Gunter		110,250	37.8%
Collins Kilgore		91,897	31.5%
Paul Danielson		89,741	30.8%

Arkansas Supreme Court, Chief Justice, Position 1 2004 General election results
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Jim Hannah		191,695	62.5%
Wendell Griffen		114,835	37.5%

• Click here for 2004 General Election Results from the Arkansas Secretary of State.

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