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Arkansas Supreme Court: A Voter's Guide to the Chief Justice Race - Judge Karen Baker
13 Plays5 months ago
Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Election: Karen Baker vs. Rhonda Wood
Join Steve and Kelly from Stand Up Arkansas as they break down the crucial election for Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court between Justice Karen Baker and Justice Rhonda Wood. Both candidates are already serving on the court, but with the governor's continuous appointments potentially affecting key decisions on issues like marijuana legalization, reproductive rights, and more, this election is pivotal. Learn about the importance of the Supreme Court, how it should remain nonpartisan, and why voting for the right candidate can impact significant legal and constitutional matters in Arkansas.
00:00 Introduction and Overview
00:50 The Role and Importance of the Supreme Court
01:58 Political Influence on the Supreme Court
02:57 Reproductive Rights and Legal Challenges
05:06 Transparency and Judicial Accountability
05:49 Endorsement and Personal Connection
06:32 The Stakes of the Upcoming Election
07:34 Call to Action
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Transcript
Introduction to Voter Guide and Chief Justice Race
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, I'm Steve and I'm Kelly and we're with stand up Arkansas and we're doing our voter guide breakdown and we're going to talk about the Chief Justice to the Arkansas State Supreme Court and that is between Justice Karen Baker and Justice Rhonda Wood.
Governor's Influence on Court Appointments
00:00:19
Speaker
Both of them are already sitting on the Supreme Court, which is going to create a vacancy that then the governor is going to get to appoint someone. And that's important because the governor is staffing the court. right Like every time we turn around, she's appointing somebody else to the court.
00:00:37
Speaker
And the people she's appointing are specifically against marijuana. They're specifically against the women's right to choose.
Role of the Supreme Court and Nonpartisanship
00:00:46
Speaker
And they're stacking to create decisions. And can we talk a little bit about the purpose of the Supreme Court for a minute and how it's really not supposed to be political?
00:00:58
Speaker
They can't even run as a Democrat or Republican. It is a nonpartisan position. We have three branches of government. The executive branch, which would be the governor, our agencies, the departments, the people who fall directly under the governor.
00:01:16
Speaker
And then we have the legislative branch, which would be the General Assembly. That's the people running for Senate or House of Representatives at the state level.
Unique Direct Democracy in Arkansas
00:01:26
Speaker
And then judicial would be our prosecuting attorneys, our judges, our Supreme Court. And it is how we interpret and enforce the laws that the General Assembly passed that the executive branch signed off on. And those three branches of government really hold each other accountable.
Political Influence on Supreme Court Decisions
00:01:47
Speaker
Yes. Should plus plus in Arkansas, the fourth branch, which is the people because we have direct democracy. So there should be accountability here because things are different in Arkansas and we don't really have that. And some of the things that's happened over the last couple of years, that the citizens of Arkansas normally couldn't tell you who's sitting on the Supreme Court, but we're watching every decision that comes down because it's become so political and
00:02:12
Speaker
we're seeing the governor pushing her agenda through the judicial branch and we've had things happen like specific black and white written laws in the constitution and it has gone before this supreme court and they say even though it says that It doesn't mean that, which really got around some laws that the General Assembly twisted around the emergency clause and some different things. And then we had the Secretary of State, which is over here on the executive branch with the governor. They were donating money and creating organizations to defeat getting reproductive rights on the ballot. And education.
00:02:57
Speaker
and education, but I want to talk about reproductive rights in particular because reproductive rights got the necessary number of signatures that were needed. And there is no handbook. There are no rules. We're going off of an old handbook from a previous legislature But the administrative rules of how you do it, there's not a handbook. It's just figuring it out as we go. And the Secretary of State created his own rule. It's not a rule that was made in the Constitution. It's not a rule that anyone knew about ahead of time. This one was like a little like an interpretation of a rule.
00:03:36
Speaker
But regardless, it's a rule that was set by an agency. It wasn't set by our legislators. It wasn't set by court. You can't make a rule that checks the people of Arkansas, no matter what rule you say. If it's not through a law or through a court, well they made this rule that said you had to have this paperwork turned in or whatever.
Karen Baker's Stance on Political Interference
00:04:02
Speaker
which is clearly a violation of the constitutional rights to be on the ballot. And that was Thurston, and it went before the Supreme Court, and they had stacked the Supreme Court with justices that literally would vote against that, even though It was wrong, and Rhonda Woods was on one side to vote with the governor, with voting down, getting that on the ballot, and Karen Baker wrote the dissent and said, you're wrong. This is not what was supposed to happen. And that's just one example.
00:04:35
Speaker
but there So she stood up for openly for upholding being able to put abortion on the ballot, right? And I'm not saying that she is for reproductive rights. It's the same thing we tell people when they're signing the petition. This doesn't mean that you're for it or against it. It just means that you think that the people should have a right to vote on it.
Court Transparency and Judicial Ethics
00:04:56
Speaker
And regardless of what The position was procedurally, she says, you can't do what you're doing. They brought politics into it. And then there's another case just literally right as a shadow of that one, where it was Freedom of Information Act stuff. Transparency. It was transparency within the court in this case. And you had judges that were hiding things from the public. And guess who's on one side? Rhonda Woods.
00:05:27
Speaker
And Karen Baker, Judge Baker, literally referred them for disciplinary action for not being transparent. I believe very firmly that we need judges that are looking out for the rights of the people and looking out for what the Constitution says.
Endorsement of Karen Baker for Chief Justice
00:05:44
Speaker
And Karen Baker so far has shown us that she's looking out for people and not for politics. So for that, she has my solid indoors endorsement. As does Shimon.
00:05:54
Speaker
Plus we have a connection. We have a connection because her daughter-in-law, Caroline, whose husband ran for judge in Conway, we visited with them a while ago and, and her daughter helped us with grace. She babysat for grace whenever she was her li all are driver picked her up from school and stuff. home wo can yeah thirteen I do personally know her. I trusted Caroline with my child. Yes. and And that's her family. And though I don't personally have a relationship with her, I do know her family. And her son is and a very upright, great guy. And they've got a beautiful yeah child as well. So y'all, the Supreme Court and who we vote for on this is very important.
Importance of Voting in Chief Justice Race
00:06:36
Speaker
It's erred. This is important. Of all of the races,
00:06:40
Speaker
I can't even begin to say this one really, is probably really important matters. Over the next two or three years, all of the laws in Arkansas are going to be challenged. They're challenging them down on the court court level, and they're trying to change things around our library systems, and around our public education, around how we fund our health care, about how what services we get.
00:07:03
Speaker
and they're challenging these things and also about transgender rights and LGBTQ rights and birth control and reproductive rights. All of these things that really are about autonomy of the human soul, personhood, those are being challenged and they're getting challenged up to the
Call to Action for Supporting Karen Baker
00:07:22
Speaker
Supreme Court. We need a chief justice that is going to stand on purpose for the people of Arkansas and uphold the law and uphold the law and the spirit of the law so y'all get out there spread the word let's get Karen Baker elected