Case Summary
On September 2, 2020, Bonnie Miller, member of the League of Women Voters of Arkansas and Chairperson of Arkansas Voters First, filed suit against John Thurston, in his capacity as the Secretary of State of Arkansas. The suit alleges that the Arkansas Citizens' Redistricting Commission Amendment, which was removed from the ballot after a previous round of litigation in both state and federal court, should be reinstated to the November 2020 ballot. If approved by voters, the Amendment would replace the current Board of Apportionment (made up of the governor, the secretary of state, and the attorney general) with the 9-member Citizens' Redistricting Commission, who would then be responsible for legislative and congressional redistricting. In this renewed suit, plaintiffs had argued that the procedural requirements in Arkansas's initiative laws, which had previously been held to bar the Amendment from being placed on the ballot, unconstitutionally infringed upon the First Amendment rights of the ballot measure's proponents.
On September 15, 2020, the court denied the plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction and dismissed the case with prejudice.
Case Library
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - 5:20-cv-05163
- Complaint - 9/2/20
- Plaintiffs' Motion for Preliminary Injunction - 9/2/20
- Brief in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for a Preliminary Injunction - 9/2/20
- Plaintiffs' Motion to Expedite Briefing on Motion for Preliminary Injunction - 9/2/20
- Plaintiffs' Brief in Support of Motion to Expedite Briefing on their Motion for Preliminary Injunction - 9/2/20
- Disclosure of Corporate, Affiliations and Other Entities with a Direct Financial Interest in Litigation - 9/2/20
- Order Granting Motion to Expedite Briefing - 9/4/20
- Response in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction - 9/10/20
- Reply Brief on Issues B.1 and B.2 in Defendant's Response in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction - 9/11/20
- Memorandum Opinion and Order Denying Preliminary Injunction - 9/15/20