The Arkansas Supreme Court in 2023 and 2024 (from left): Barbara Webb, Rhonda Wood, Karen Baker, Chief Justice Dan Kemp, Courtney Hudson, Shawn Womack and Cody Hiland. Kemp retired in 2024, and Baker was elected chief justice. The other five justices remain on the court, along with new appointee Nicholas Bronni. (Photo courtesy of Arkansas Judiciary)
Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Karen Baker cited a non-official memo from her predecessor as the basis for her administrative authority in a mass email sent to judicial employees Monday.
Former Chief Justice John Dan Kemp wrote and signed a memo in February 2017, shortly after he was sworn into the role, stating that a majority of the court could not vote to “exercise control over administrative matters” because this would “impair the constitutional authority of the Chief Justice.” He said any such majority vote would be null and void.
Kemp said the memo would be filed in the Supreme Court clerk’s office, but Clerk Kyle Burton confirmed Tuesday that it was never filed.
Baker said in the email, obtained via an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request, that Kemp’s memo was “a reminder of the mantle of duties and responsibilities” of her new position and that she was grateful to Kemp for the “clarity” of his statement.
“As your new Chief Justice, empowered by Amendment 80 to lead the administration of the Courts, I will be actively working in conjunction with the Governor’s Arkansas Forward initiative to make the judiciary more efficient and fiscally responsible,” Baker said. “As Chief I will no doubt need your help to make this goal a reality.”
Baker encouraged judiciary employees to contact her “about any concerns, comments, or suggestions [they] may have about the administration of justice.”
Her email came less than a week after she not only assumed her new role but also clashed twice with her fellow justices over the scope of her authority.
Kemp declined to run for reelection last year after one eight-year term as chief justice. Baker, who was already on the court, was sworn in at midnight Jan. 1 as the court’s first elected female chief justice.
Less than half an hour after midnight, she ordered three new appointments to the state’s Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission. Within the next two days, she attempted to fire 10 judiciary employees.
Other members of the Supreme Court responded to both efforts with formal opinions stating that Baker did not have the authority to make those decisions unilaterally. The two orders rendered the appointments and attempted firings void.
Associate Justice Courtney Hudson did not participate in either opinion. According to Kemp’s memo, Hudson (who went by Courtney Goodson at the time) was the one who sought to establish a rule allowing at least four of the seven justices to make administrative decisions.
Conflicts over transparency, authority
Hudson and Baker have been at odds with the rest of the court several times in recent months. In September, Hudson sued to block the release of emails between her and Lisa Ballard, the former head of the judiciary’s Office of Professional Conduct, that Arkansas Business requested via FOIA.
The other five justices accused Hudson and her attorney, Justin Zachary, of “flagrant breaches of confidentiality” by filing emails of other justices into evidence in the lawsuit. The five-member majority referred Hudson and Zachary to their respective disciplinary commissions — Zachary to OPC, and Hudson to the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.
Arkansas Supreme Court refers one of its own for disciplinary investigation
Baker dissented, saying the majority had “a fundamental misunderstanding” of the FOIA and had damaged the Supreme Court’s credibility. She made transparency a focus of her successful runoff campaign for chief justice in November against Associate Justice Rhonda Wood.
In December, Chief Justice-elect Baker entered the office of Administrative Office of the Courts Director Marty Sullivan while he was not present, Arkansas Business reported, citing video footage received via FOIA. Hudson was present outside the office, but it was not clear whether she entered.
Baker later told Supreme Court Chief of Police Pete Hollingsworth that she did not want the video footage “going around,” Talk Business & Politics reported.
Sullivan and Hollingsworth were among the employees Baker attempted to fire Friday, and the majority of the justices called her actions “retaliatory.” The chief justice cannot fire some judiciary employees without the court’s approval, the majority said, citing the portion of state law that says the AOC director serves “at the pleasure of the Supreme Court.”
Justices also said Baker should have notified the rest of the court about both the attempted firings and the attempted appointments to the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission.
The judge who swore in Baker as chief justice was one of the three blocked appointees. Circuit Judge H.G. Foster of Conway oversees Faulkner, Van Buren and Searcy counties, and he swore in Baker in her hometown of Clinton, the seat of Van Buren County.
Baker filed her appointment order for Foster at 12:25 a.m. on Jan. 1, according to Monday’s court order. She also attempted to appoint Circuit Judge James Dunham of Russellville at 12:15 a.m. and former Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay of Fayetteville at 12:20 a.m.
Lindsay was already on the commission, and he did not run for reelection to the circuit judgeship last year after 24 years on the bench. Baker’s fellow justices said in Monday’s order voiding the appointments that only sitting judges can be among the three Supreme Court appointees.
The court on Monday appointed Circuit Judge Troy Braswell of Conway to replace Lindsay. The court also reappointed Circuit Judge Earnest Brown of Pine Bluff, whom Baker sought to replace with Foster, and appointed Circuit Judge Thomas Smith of Bentonville to replace Court of Appeals Judge Cindy Thyer. Baker had sought to replace Thyer with Dunham.
Amendment 66 to the Arkansas Constitution and state law — ACA 16-10-402(a)(1) — establishes a nine-member disciplinary commission with three judge members appointed by the Supreme Court; three attorneys, one each appointed by the attorney general, the president of the senate and the speaker of the house; and three public members appointed by the governor.
But the judiciary website shows 17 members: four public members, two alternate public members, five judges and six attorneys.
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