LDF and Partners Challenge Arkansas’ Attempt to Eliminate Equal Opportunities for Black Judges in Elections

This week, the state of Arkansas filed a motion to vacate a federal judgment and settlement secured by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and co-counsel on behalf of Judge Eugene Hunt, Judge Olly Neal, the Christian Ministerial Alliance, and others 35 years ago in Hunt v. Arkansas - a historic case that ensured opportunities for Black judges to win election in Arkansas judicial districts. This request to vacate severely threatens not only the fairness of these nonpartisan elections, but also the lives of Arkansas voters who would be affected by a judicial bench that does not reflect the realities of the state population. LDF and co-counsel, on behalf of our clients, are opposing the state's motion to vacate in court.

Hunt v. Arkansas challenged the mechanisms by which judicial elections for trial court judges were held in Arkansas as violations of the Constitution and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Prior to a 1991 consent decree, no Black person had ever been elected to an Arkansas judicial office. As a result of the judicial subdistricts created by the Hunt lawsuit, Black judges were elected for the first time in Arkansas' first, second, sixth, tenth, and eleventh judicial circuits. Now, Arkansas is seeking to nullify the ruling in the case and dismantle critical mechanisms that allow Black voters a fair opportunity to participate in these nonpartisan judicial elections.

"The Hunt Decree must remain. It is a sacred promise to the Black community in Arkansas. For more than three decades, this decree has given Black citizens the power to choose who sits in judgment over their futures and presides over matters of family, freedom, and dignity," Rev. Ronnie Miller-Yow, President of the Christian Ministerial Alliance of Little Rock. "We are people of faith and conscience, and now is the time to stand tall and speak truth to power. We will not sit idly by and watch this promise be snatched from our hands. Justice demands fair courts, and fair courts demand that the people choose their judges."

"The election of Black judges is directly attributable to the requirements of the Hunt decree," said Judge Olly Neal. "Without the Hunt decree, Plaintiffs will not have an equal opportunity to continue to elect judges that are representative of their communities. That's not justice."

"I am sorely disappointed in the state of Arkansas having filed a motion to be relieved from the requirements of the consent decree in Hunt v. State of Arkansas," said Judge Eugene Hunt. "The socioeconomic conditions and inequities that existed at the time the decree was entered more than thirty years ago, still exist."

"Arkansas is seeking a rollback of the progress Black citizens have achieved over nearly 30 years as a result of the Hunt Decree," said Arkie Byrd, Co-Counsel and Partner at Mays, Byrd, & O'Guinn, PLLC. "Hunt has assured that trial court judges are representative of all Arkansans and justice is administered on its most fundamental level by judges who look like all of the citizens of Arkansas."

"We must remain grounded in the very purpose for which the original outcome was intended: to ensure that Black Arkansans have an equal opportunity to elect Black judges who reflect the communities they serve and bring a breadth of experience that contributes to a fairer judicial system," said Justyce Yuille, an attorney at the Legal Defense Fund. "Remembering why this ruling was established is essential to upholding the principles of equity, equality, and fairness upon which a just system must stand."

Visit here to learn more about the harmful effects of racially discriminatory redistricting.

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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF)is the nation's first civil rights legal organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957, though it was founded under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall while he was at the NAACP. LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI) is a division of LDF that undertakes innovative research and houses LDF's archive. In all media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF (do not include NAACP) and refer to the Institute as LDF's Thurgood Marshall Institute or TMI.