LITTLE ROCK — A committee has proposed closing six federal court sites across the state as part of a nationwide costcutting measure in the judicial system, federal officials said Wednesday.
Four of those court sites — Batesville, Helena-West Helena, Jonesboro and Pine Bluff — sit in the state’s Eastern District. Two of the court sites — Harrison and Hot Springs — are in Arkansas’ Western District.
The potential closures would not affect other agencies that share the federal buildings, said Dick Carelli, a spokesman for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in Washington, D.C.
For example, the main post office in Pine Bluff, located in the city’s Federal Building, would not be closed.
In all, 60 court sites in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals region are under consideration for closure by the Space and Facilities Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference, Carelli said.
Seven states make up the 8th Circuit region: Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The effort is part of a review of court sites with low usage rates that don’t house resident judges, he said.
“This is something that happens every so often as part of cost containment,” Carelli said. “The government looks at whether or not it makes sense to keep paying rent on these facilities that don’t see much action.”
Arkansas has five other cities with federal courts: El Dorado, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Little Rock and Texarkana. None of those cities’ federal court sites are on the proposed closure list.
William Jay Riley of Omaha, Neb., the chief 8th Circuit Court of Appeals judge, said Arkansas has one of the highest numbers of federal court sites on the proposed closure list.
“My guess is that they will look closest at those that are the least used,” Riley said. “But this process will not go quickly. It will be around for a while.”
Arkansas Bar Association members in the state’s Western District received a letter March 6 from Chief U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III detailing the proposed closures in Harrison and Hot Springs.
Holmes serves on the Space and Facilities Committee.
In the letter, Holmes said the committee “uses a quan- titative analysis to rate the non-resident courthouses,” and that “the scores place Harrison at the top of the list and Hot Springs in the middle. ”
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Holmes also cited several concerns that he said were not included in the committee’s analysis.
“One factor in the Harrison Division is the large geographical area the division covers,” Holmes wrote. “Litigants in the Harrison Division would likely have to go to court in the Fayetteville Division. ...”
Holmes wrote that he is seeking bar association members’ opinions regarding the possible closures before the committee’s response to the 8th Circuit Judicial Conference is made April 13.
Amy Johnson, director of Little Rock-based Arkansas Legal Services, which helps low-income residents with legal advice, said her office is concerned about the impact the closures could have on those with tight budgets.
She said the areas affected include a high number of lowincome Arkansans.
“Anytime you close courthouses it will affect the ability of people to access courts, putting an even greater hardship on low-income residents,” Johnson said. “And the courthouses that remain open will have even busier dockets, leading to longer wait times for clients.”
Harrison attorney Gail Inman-Campbell, who has represented numerous clients in the city’s U.S. Bankruptcy Court, said she was shocked and disappointed to hear news of the closure list.
“It affects a very large area of our state,” she said. “Basically, the feds are saying that we are not worth the time and trouble. This is how I feel about it. Size does matter, and the fact that we are smaller should not deny citizens equal access to justice.”
She said Bankruptcy Court typically convenes every other month in Harrison, and federal trials are held “about once a quarter.”
Inman-Campbell and other Harrison attorneys plan to address the Harrison City Council about the issue tonight.
Also, “we would like to sit down with whomever is in charge to come up with some alternate solutions,” she said.
“We could find another building to house the courtroom in — anything to keep it here locally. Granted, it’s not used every day, but our citizens would have to travel to Fayetteville or Fort Smith for any type of federal court action. That’s just not acceptable.”
Messages left for officials in the Eastern District were not returned Wednesday, and several attorneys in affected Eastern District cities said they were not aware of the closure list.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 03/22/2012