The election of the Arkansas chief justice will make history but won’t alter the court’s conservative slant

Little Rock, Arkansas – The conservative majority of the Arkansas Supreme Court will not be altered by the winner of the state’s chief justice race, nor has it attracted the significant funding of Republican organizations that have targeted previous campaigns. However, history will still be made by the result.

In this year’s nonpartisan runoff, Justices Karen Baker and Rhonda Wood are vying to succeed departing Chief Justice Dan Kemp. In March, there was a four-person race for the court, and Wood and Baker finished first and second, respectively, but neither received the majority needed to win the election.

Although the Arkansas court is officially nonpartisan, the majority of its justices 4–3 are Republicans. Regardless of the outcome of the election, that majority will grow to 5-2, with GOP Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders expected to fill two court openings the next year.

Wood or Baker will be the state’s first elected female chief justice. In 2003, Betty Dickey was named chief justice of the court.

Sanders and U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton are among the Republicans who support Wood, who was initially elected to the court in 2014 and then again in 2022. Her campaign has also received support from the state committee of the Republican Party of Arkansas.

But according to Wood, her experience on the court demonstrates that she is an impartial voice who does not rule in favor of either party.

Wood told The Associated Press, “I believe I have made decisions that are in line with the law, but maybe one party or another would agree with me.”

The AP sent several messages asking for an interview with Baker, who has been on the court since 2011, but Baker did not reply. In 2022, Baker defeated a former Republican lawmaker who billed himself as a constitutional conservative to win reelection.

Baker has stated in interviews that she has demonstrated her impartiality.

In response to a question concerning Sanders’ political action committee backing Wood’s campaign, she told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “I believe my opponent has shown she is not.”

Conservative organizations who have extensively invested in attempts to move the court further to the right have targeted Arkansas’ court contests in previous years. But this year, those organizations haven’t targeted Arkansas; instead, they’re concentrating on more well-known contests in battleground states like Ohio and Michigan.

A lawsuit about an abortion rights proposal that would have weakened a state restriction that went into effect after Roe v. Wade was overturned was the most recent point of contention between the two contenders.

Wood authored the majority 4-3 ruling of the court, which supported the state’s decision to deny petitions filed in support of the proposal. The measure’s sponsors were found to have violated the documentation requirements for paid signature gatherers by the court.

“Why are the respondent and the majority determined to keep this particular vote from the people?” Baker questioned in a scathing dissent.

Wood responded, “I think it’s clear which comes across as more judicially restrained versus an opinion that’s sort of trying to sway public emotion,” when asked what the opinions emphasized regarding the differences between the justices.

Baker has emphasized her bench experience and previously stated that if elected, she would prefer to concentrate on strengthening attorney licensure.

In order to make the court system more accessible, Wood has stated that she would like to advocate for modifications such as text alerts for hearings and alternate ways to attend court, such as virtual courts and night courts.

“I want to do a lot of specific, limited things, but the theme is making it much more transparent and citizen-friendly,” Wood stated.

The election will give Sanders a second appointment to make the following year, but the winner of the race will still be on the court. A vacancy resulted from Justice Courtney Hudson’s election in March to a different seat on her court. Cody Hiland, who was nominated to the court by Sanders last year, will be replaced by Hudson.