Category: Election News

2016 Judicial Election Results for Arkansas Supreme Court and Arkansas Court of Appeals

~ Tasha C. Taylor

The 2016 nonpartisan judicial elections held in Arkansas on March 1st have resulted in two new Arkansas Supreme Court Justices, one new Judge on the Arkansas Court of Appeals, and one runoff election for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.  The following are results with nearly all precincts reporting:

Arkansas Supreme Court

Chief Justice Position 1

Association Justice Position 5

Arkansas Court of Appeals

Associate Judge District 2, Position 2

Associate Judge District 5

The runoff election between James McMenis and Mark Klappenbach for the Associate Judge District 5 position on the Arkansas Court of Appeals will take place during the general election on November 8, 2016.

There were also two uncontested races in the Arkansas Court of Appeals: Judge Rita W. Gruber will remain the Associate Justice for District 6, Position 1; and Judge Waymond Brown will keep his seat as District 7 Associate Judge.

Related Post: 2016 Arkansas Supreme Court & Arkansas Court of Appeals Election Roundup

2016 Arkansas Supreme Court & Arkansas Court of Appeals Election Roundup

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 1 Comment

The party primary and judicial general election will be held in Arkansas this year on March 1, 2016.  The judicial general election includes four contested races for seats on Arkansas’s appellate courts (two in each court).  The races for the open seats on the Arkansas Supreme Court will be elected in a statewide election.  The seats open on the Arkansas Court of Appeals will be elected only by voters in each seat’s district.

Arkansas Supreme Court

In the Arkansas Supreme Court, the contest for the position of Chief Justice (Position 1) resulted from former Chief Justice Hannah’s announcement earlier this year that he would retire early.  Position 5 is open because Justice Danielson decided not to seek re-election for that position.

The candidates for the two contested races on the Arkansas Supreme Court are as listed below along with a link to each candidate’s campaign site.

Chief Justice Position 1

Association Justice Position 5

Arkansas Court of Appeals

In the Court of Appeals, there are two races that are uncontested: Judge Rita W. Gruber will remain the Associate Justice for District 6, Position 1; and Judge Waymond Brown will keep his seat as District 7 Associate Judge.

The two contested races in the Court of Appeals are for District 2, Position 2 (currently occupied by Judge Cliff Hoofman, who was appointed to replace Justice Rhonda Wood when she was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court) and District 5 (currently occupied by Mike Kinard, who was appointed to replace Justice Robin Wynne after Wynne was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court).

The candidates for the two contested positions on the Arkansas Court of Appeals are listed below each position in the list that follows (along with a link to each candidate’s campaign site).

Associate Judge District 2, Position 2

Associate Judge District 5

Faulkner County Circuit Court Judge Mike Murphy Announces Candidacy for Arkansas Court of Appeals

~ Tasha C. Taylor
Judge Mike Murphy
Judge Mike Murphy

Faulkner County Circuit Court Judge Mike Murphy announced this morning his plan to run for District 2, Position 2 of the Arkansas Court of Appeals on the March 1, 2016 election.  Judge Murphy was elected to serve as the 1st Division of the Faulkner County Circuit Court in May of 2014.  Prior to taking office for his elected position in January of 2015, Judge Murphy was appointed by Governor Mike Beebe to fill the vacancy left in the 2nd Division of the Faulkner County Circuit Court when the Arkansas Supreme Court removed Judge Mike Maggio from the bench last year.  After completing Maggio’s term through December 31, 2014, Judge Murphy took office in his elected (and current) position as 1st Division Circuit Court Judge in Faulkner County.  His term in that position expires on December 31, 2020.

The Court of Appeals position that Judge Murphy is seeking is currently occupied by Governor Beebe appointee Cliff Hoofman.  Judge Hoofman was appointed to that seat when Rhonda Wood was elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court and may not seek re-election to that position.

The press release issued this morning by Judge Mike Murphy follows:

(Conway, Arkansas) — Circuit Judge Mike Murphy of Conway has announced his candidacy for the Arkansas Court of Appeals, District 2, Position 2 in the March 1, 2016 nonpartisan judicial elections.

Murphy currently serves as the 1st Division circuit judge for the 20th Judicial District (Faulkner, Searcy and Van Buren counties).

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve our citizens as one of their trial judges.  It is an honor to seek this position on the appellate court bench.  If elected, I pledge to work hard and uphold our laws with fairness, honesty and integrity.”

A Faulkner County native, Murphy opened a private law practice in 1988 and worked as a deputy prosecutor.  Elected as Conway’s city attorney in 1990, he served for over 22 years before being elected circuit judge.  Murphy attended UCA and the University of Arkansas, receiving his law degree from the School of Law in Fayetteville in 1986.  He also served as law clerk for the United States Magistrate Judge in Springfield, Missouri.

Murphy was an adjunct instructor at UCA; member of the Arkansas Bar Association House of Delegates; a past-president of the Arkansas City Attorneys Association and former member of the Little Rock Air Force Base Community Council.  He is a member of the Arkansas Judicial Council, the Arkansas and Faulkner County Bar Associations and serves on the boards of the Conway Public Schools Foundation and the Faulkner County Museum Commission.

Murphy is the father of three teenagers and member of Conway’s First United Methodist Church.

District 2 of the Court of Appeals is comprised of 18 counties, including Baxter, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Marion, Newton, Pope, Randolph, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, and Van Buren.

Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Hannah Retires; Professor Howard Brill Appointed to Fill Chief Justice Vacancy.

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 1 Comment
Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Hannah
Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Hannah

Earlier this month, Chief Justice Jim Hannah announced his plans to retire early from his position on the Arkansas Supreme Court due to health issues.  Justice Hannah was first elected as an Associate Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2000 and later was elected to the Chief Justice position in 2004.

The following is Chief Justice Hannah’s Resignation Statement:

The people of Arkansas elected me to our state’s highest court in year 2000. I will be forever grateful. It is with great pride and pleasure that I have served on the Arkansas Supreme Court for over fourteen years, the last ten in the role of Chief Justice. In recent weeks I have been challenged by a significant health issue. Having the utmost respect for my job as Chief Justice and the business of the court, I have made a decision to tender my resignation effective at the end of August 31, 2015 to focus full-time on addressing my immediate health condition. There is no greater honor that a person can receive than to have another person place his or her trust and confidence in you. I want to thank the people of Arkansas who placed their trust and confidence in me and allowed me to serve them on their Arkansas Supreme Court. I sincerely appreciate the excellent staff that has worked with me. I have been privileged to work with some of the best district court judges, circuit court judges, appellate court judges, and justices in the country. I have also been privileged to work with our excellent Administrative Office of the Courts, its leadership and dedicated employees. Lastly, thank you to my wife Pat for her sacrifice and support.

Prior to his retirement, Justice Hannah was the longest-serving member of the Arkansas judiciary, having served as a judge for more than thirty-seven years.

Howard Brill
Professor Howard Brill

On Thursday of this week, Governor Asa Hutchinson appointed Professor Howard Brill to complete Chief Justice Hannah’s term on the Arkansas Supreme Court, which ends in 2016.  Professor Brill is the Vincent Foster University Professor of Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility at the University of Arkansas School of Law.  He joined the law school in 1975.  Among his many achievements, Professor Brill is widely known in Arkansas as the author of Arkansas Law of Damages, which is routinely cited by Arkansas state and federal courts.  He has also authored Arkansas Professional and Judicial Ethics.  Professor Brill has previously served as a Special Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court on several occasions.

Arkansas Supreme Court Election Update: Justice Paul Danielson to Retire, Circuit Court Judge Shawn Womack to Run

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 1 Comment

Arkansas Supreme CourtJustice Paul Danielson announced last week that he does not plan to seek re-election as an Associate Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court at the end of 2016.  Justice Danielson said that he was grateful for the opportunity to serve and commented that he would seek re-election were it not for an Arkansas law requiring judges to retire by age 70 so as not to lose their retirement benefits.

“I am eternally grateful to the people of Arkansas for allowing me the privilege of serving on this court for what will be ten years, after having served twelve years as a circuit judge,” Danielson said. “And it has been my honor and pleasure to work among such esteemed colleagues over the years. Were it not for the state law prohibiting me from seeking re-election without forfeiting my retirement benefits, I would continue to seek re-election as long as the good people of this State would have me.”

Within a few hours of Justice Danielson’s announcement, Circuit Court Judge Shawn Womack announced that he’ll run for Justice Danielson’s seat on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2016.  Judge Womack, a former Arkansas lawmaker, is currently a circuit court judge in Mountain Home.

Today’s Investiture Results in Arkansas’s First Majority Female Supreme Court

~ Tasha C. Taylor

Arkansas Supreme Court An investiture ceremony is being held at the Arkansas Supreme Court today at 1:00 p.m. for the swearing in of three justices: Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker, Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Rhonda Wood, and Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Robin Wynne.

Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker was originally elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2010. She was re-elected last May to serve an eight-year term on that Court.

Court of Appeals Judge Rhonda Wood was elected to Position 7 on the Arkansas Supreme Court in May of 2014.  Judge Wood replaces Justice Hoofman, who was appointed to fill that position with the retirement of Justice Robert L. Brown at the end of 2012.  Justice Hoofman will, in turn, fill the vacancy left by Judge Wood on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Court of Appeals Judge Robin Wynne was elected to Position 2 on the Arkansas Supreme Court in May of 2014.  Judge Wynne will replace Justice Donald Corbin, who has held that position since 1990.  Governor Beebe has appointed Mike Kinard of Magnolia to replace Judge Wynne on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

As we’ve previously discussed, the addition of Judge Rhonda Wood to the Arkansas Supreme Court will result in Arkansas being one of only a few states with a female majority court of last resort, which is a first for Arkansas as well.

Arkansas Supreme Court Releases Election Decisions

~ Andy Taylor

Two big decisions from the Arkansas Supreme Court today (actually several, but four of them are about the same issue).  We will update the blog with more information later, but summaries of the decisions follow.  We’re getting these out quickly, so please let us know if you read the opinions and have a different understanding.

Supreme Court Holds Candidates for Judicial Office not Disqualified for Delinquency in Paying Dues

The Supreme Court held that (1) a suspension for failure to pay dues is not the same as not having a license; and (2) that suspending an attorney without notice is a violation of Due Process.  Justice Hart wrote separately, concurring in part and dissenting in part.  She agreed with point 1, which she argued made point 2 moot.  Justice Corbin dissented on both points, and would have held that a delinquency makes a candidate ineligible.

Here are PDFs of the opinions:

CV-14-367 Fox

CV-14-358 Bailey

CV-14-370 Byrd

CV-14-369 Foster

Supreme Court Allows Voter ID Law to Remain in Place (For Now); Strikes Down Rules Relating to Absentee Voters

On what appear to be procedural grounds, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a circuit court opinion holding that Arkansas’s voter ID law was unconstitutional.  The Court held that the constitutionality of the statute was not properly before the Circuit Court.  Presumably, this leaves open the question of whether the law could be attacked in the future.  The Arkansas Supreme Court also held that the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners had acted outside the scope of its authority when it promulgated rules allowing for provisional ballots for absentee ballots, where the statute did not expressly allow for such a rule.

Here is a PDF of the opinion:

CV-14-371 Voter ID

 

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History Made with Arkansas’s First Majority-Female Supreme Court

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 2 Comments

Judge Rhonda WoodJudge Rhonda Wood’s Unopposed Election Leads to First Female-Majority Arkansas Supreme Court

With the filing period officially closed and all judicial candidates announced, the Arkansas Supreme Court will, for the first time in history, be made up of a majority of female justices.  Court of Appeals Judge Rhonda Wood is running unopposed for Position 7 on the Arkansas Supreme Court, the seat being vacated by Justice Cliff Hoofman.  Justice Hoofman was appointed in 2012 by Governor Mike Beebe to fill the seat being vacated at that time by retiring Justice Robert L. Brown.  As an appointee, Justice Hoofman cannot run for that seat.

We reached out to Judge Rhonda Wood on Monday concerning her thoughts about her place in this historic moment for the Arkansas Supreme Court:

“It was during my first year of law school that Arkansas elected the first female justice—Justice Imber Tuck. I remember my female classmates feeling excited that we broke that glass ceiling. I never dreamed that I would be part of the election cycle to break the next glass ceiling of having a majority female court. My gender doesn’t change how I follow the law, but rather changes little girls’ dreams from possibilities to probabilities.” 

The 2014 judicial elections in Arkansas will take place on May 20, 2014, during the primary elections.  Justice Karen R. Baker is running unopposed for Position 6, the seat she currently holds.  The only other open seat on the Arkansas Supreme Court is Position 2, which is being vacated by retiring Justice Donald L. Corbin.  Two candidates have filed for that position: Little Rock attorney Tim Cullen and Court of Appeals Judge Robin F. Wynne.  Regardless of the outcome of that race, the Arkansas Supreme Court will be soon be comprised of four women and three men.

Appointed Female Members of the Arkansas Supreme Court

Elsijane Trimble Roy was the first female to serve as an Arkansas Supreme Court Justice.  She was appointed to Position 2 on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1975 by Governor David Pryor.  In 1995, Andree Layton Roaf became the first African-American female to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court after being appointed to that position by Governor Jim Guy Tucker.  Betty Dickey was appointed by Governor Mike Huckabee to become the first female Chief Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2004.  In 2008, Governor Mike Beebe appointed Elana Cunningham Wills to serve in Position 3 on the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Elected Female Members of the Arkansas Supreme Court

In 1997, Justice Annabelle Imber Tuck made history by becoming the first female to be elected to the Arkansas Supreme Court.  Since Justice Tuck’s retirement from the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2009, three other female Justices have been elected to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court, all of whom are current members of that Court: Justice Karen R. Baker, Justice Courtney Hudson Goodson, and Justice Josephine L. Hart.

With the addition of Judge Rhonda Wood in 2015, Arkansas will join the ranks of only nine other majority-female state high courts in the country: California, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas (Court of Criminal Appeals), Tennessee,  Washington, and Wisconsin.

Although only nine state courts of last resort currently have a majority-female membership, sixteen state high courts are now led by female Chief Justices: Alaska, Arizona,  California, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas (Court of Criminal Appeals), Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

* Hat tip to Tim Cullen at ReportedDecisions.com for the suggestion to research this topic.

Related Posts:

Little Rock Attorney Tim Cullen Announces Candidacy for Arkansas Supreme Court

~ Tasha C. Taylor ~ 3 Comments

Little Rock Attorney Tim Cullen

*Andy and I are excited to report that our good friend and mentor, Tim Cullen, has announced his candidacy for Arkansas Supreme Court.  

I have known Tim for the past seven years, more than three of which were spent working with him and learning from him as an Associate Attorney at Cullen & Co., PLLC.  Andy also spent a year working with Tim at his firm.  Tim is an excellent attorney and advocate for his clients, and his years practicing primarily as an appellate attorney give him the experience needed to serve on the Arkansas Supreme Court.

The press release follows.

Little Rock attorney Tim Cullen announced today his bid for the Arkansas Supreme Court to fill the seat being vacated by Justice Donald Corbin.  Cullen practices law in Little Rock and has been lead counsel on appeal in more than 150 cases before appellate courts including the U.S. Supreme Court, Arkansas Supreme Court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

“I have a strong work ethic and a reputation for detail and efficiency, having recently been recognized by my peers as one of the best lawyers in Arkansas in the unique area of appeals,” he said.  “I have broad experience in handling all of the different types of appeals that the Arkansas Supreme Court decides.”

“I believe as a lawyer, people trust you with their lives, and attorneys have a moral responsibility to them,” Cullen added.

His firm has taken on some of the largest appeals in the state.

“I believe a voter needs to know I have a deep and personal respect of the virtues of hard work, very high personal standards for the judiciary, and strong view that we must enforce the rule of law to everybody, equally,” he added.

Cullen also serves on a task force appointed by the Arkansas Supreme Court to implement electronic filing of appeal records and appeal briefs, which he believes can reduce costs of producing appeals and could save money by reducing the infrastructure required to store thousands of appeal records and briefs every year.

He served as an adjunct instructor in the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and he received the Golden Gavel Award from the Arkansas Bar Association.

A native of Little Rock, Cullen graduated from the University of Arkansas where he served as student body president and also graduated law school from Fayetteville.  He worked with the late Judge Terry Crabtree at the Arkansas Court of Appeals and later opened his private law practice representing clients in appellate matters.

He lives in Maumelle with his wife Sarah and three children. The nonpartisan judicial election will take place May 20, 2014.

Judge Mike Maggio Announces for Arkansas Court of Appeals District 2

~ Andy Taylor ~ 1 Comment

Maggio_PhotoLast week, Judge Mike Maggio announced his candidacy for Arkansas Court of Appeals District 2, Position 1.  Judge Maggio is running for the seat currently held by Justice Bill Walmsley, who was appointed by Governor Mike Beebe to replace Justice Jo Hart after her election to the Arkansas Supreme Court.

Judge Maggio currently serves as a circuit judge for the 20th Judicial District.  He was appointed to the bench in 2001 by Governor Mike Huckabee, and has been elected twice since then.  Prior to serving as a circuit court judge, Judge Maggio spent eleven years in private practice.  Judge Maggio is a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.

Counties included in Arkansas Court of Appeals District 2 are: Baxter, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Faulkner, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Lawrence, Marion, Newton, Pope, Randolph, Searcy, Sharp, Stone, and Van Buren.