Nine of the 12 judges on the Arkansas Court of Appeals are removing themselves from hearing the challenge to a decision that temporarily blocked a group's TV ad attacking a Supreme Court justice.
The nine judges on Wednesday recused themselves from hearing a television station's appeal of the decision to halt the ads by the Judicial Crisis Network targeting Justice Courtney Goodson. A Pulaski County judge prohibited several stations from airing the ad through the May 22 judicial election.
Goodson was re-elected to the high court on Tuesday. She had sued over the JCN ad, which she claimed was defamatory.
A federal judge last week rejected a request by Goodson to block similar ads and mailers by another group, the Republican State Leadership Committee.