"The legal profession is the guardian of the dignity and integrity of the nation."--Pius Langa, deceased, Chief Justice of the South Africa Supreme Court.
From the Arkansas Code of Judicial Conduct
Rule 1.2:
"A judge shall act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety."
Rule 2.4:
"(A) A judge shall not be swayed by public clamor or fear of criticism.
(B) A judge shall not permit family, social, political, financial, or other interest or relationships to influence the judge's judicial conduct or judgment.
(C) A judge shall not convey or permit others to convey the impression that any person or organization is in a position to influence the judge."
The Arkansas Bar Association does not take positions for or against judicial candidates. However, we do stand against efforts to unfairly abuse the election process for judicial races or attempts to create public clamor or fear of criticism to influence judges. We see it as a direct threat to justice in Arkansas.
In this election cycle, a partisan Washington, D.C.-based group is spending perhaps millions to attack judicial candidates for our Supreme Court. In doing so, it is not just attempting to influence this election, it is also attempting to intimidate other judges and justices if a case comes before the court that may conflict with the partisan agenda of the group. A quick preview of the group's website states it is for a fair and impartial judiciary, but its actions speak otherwise, with all the news it reports clearly supporting one party while touting a $1 million ad purchase attacking U.S. senators of the other political party.
I am not a Democrat or a Republican, but this group's interference with Arkansas' nonpartisan judicial elections is wrong.
We stand with and trust the findings of the Rapid Response Team of the Arkansas Judicial Campaign and Conduct Committee regarding the race for the Arkansas Supreme Court. I am repulsed by these dark money advertisements attacking judicial candidates with false statements as determined by the Rapid Response Team. It seems I can't watch the news or go to Facebook without seeing an attack advertisement paid for by the Washington, D.C.-based group's network. It is attempting to intimidate our courts. We don't know who its supporters are, we only know it did the same thing two years ago with very similar advertisements. It is attempting to push you to vote for or against judicial candidates without identifying the people that paid for these ads and hide behind the veil of this Washington group. This is wrong.
We must not allow our judges and courts to be dragged into the ditch of disgusting partisan politics we see paralyzing Washington. Gov. Asa Hutchinson warned that the dark money attacks on the judiciary were coming to Arkansas when he spoke to the Arkansas Bar Association on June 12, 2015. He was right. This is the third Arkansas Supreme Court race where an anonymous group outside Arkansas spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, eviscerating a candidate for the Arkansas Supreme Court without identifying who was paying for the ads other than the anonymous 501(c)(4) organization.
The Arkansas Bar Association worked very hard several years ago to pass Amendment 80 to the Arkansas Constitution. One of the most important parts of that amendment was the requirement that judges and justices be elected on a nonpartisan basis. We felt it was important that a judge or justice must not be indebted to any political party or other group, including the Arkansas Bar Association, for election. Otherwise, how can a judge or justice abide by Rule 2.4 quoted above?
Political parties must stay out of our nonpartisan judicial race. The judges you elect must be willing to interpret the law, not make political proclamations or worry about some group with lots of dark money trying to defeat them in an election.
The only way we can get partisan politics out of nonpartisan elections is with your vote. The good news is we can do something about dark money if our Legislature will act. In 2015, after Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the Florida Bar that a state's interest in preserving public confidence in the integrity of its judiciary extends beyond the normal election limits in legislative and executive branch elections because a judge's role is not to do what the judge's supporters want the judge to do, but to follow the law. See Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar, 135 S.Ct. 1656 at 1659 (2015).
I pray that you will take the time to learn more about the judicial candidates instead of relying on dark money advertisements creating their own "judicial crisis." The average law-abiding citizen only has two opportunities to interact with the judicial system, by serving on a jury and voting for our judges and justices. Your choice to become a knowledgeable voter for judicial candidates is critical to America keeping that last promise in our pledge of allegiance, "with liberty and justice for all."
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Anthony A. "Tony" Hilliard is president of the Arkansas Bar Association.
Editorial on 05/17/2018