IMPORTANT NOTE
Separation of powers at risk
Beware of this “ethics reform” amendment in the November election
Did you know that the Fall 2018 election includes an amendment that will take away our constitutional separation of powers? It will strip Arkansas’ highest court of the power to set its rules and procedures. It gives the Legislature control of Arkansas’ courts.
It’s a two-parter, as the Legislature is fond of doing. Last time it combined ethics reform and changing term limits. This time it’s tort reform and gutting the power of the Arkansas Supreme Court. It’s a power grab, to be accomplished by slipping in an apparently unimportant procedural action.
Here is the amendment and the relevant section:
“An Amendment Concerning Civil Lawsuits and the Powers of the General Assembly and Supreme Court to Adopt Court Rules.”
SECTION4.
Arkansas Constitution, Amendment 80, § 9, is amended to read as follows:
§ 9. Annulment or amendment of rules. Any rules promulgated by the Supreme Court pursuant to Sections 5, 6(B), 7(B), 7(D), or 8 of this Amendment may be annulled or amended, in whole or in part, by a three-fifths vote of the membership of each house of the General Assembly.”
The whole amendment is available at http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2017/2017R/Bills/SJR8.pdf
Many people favor the first part of the amendment that limits fees to lawyers, but giving away control of the courts in exchange is a disastrous trade-off. The Legislature is counting on voters failing to pay attention to the whole amendment. We can’t let them get away with it!
Maya Porter, from Johnson