Case Summary

On June 10, 2019, two organizations and four individual plaintiffs represented by the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas challenging the method of electing judges to the Arkansas Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. Defendants named in the lawsuit included the State of Arkansas; the Arkansas Board of Apportionment and Board of Election Commissioners; and Arkansas's Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General in their official capacities.

The lawsuit alleged that the use of at-large districts to elect judges to the Supreme Court and the use of both single and multimember districts to elect judges to the Court of Appeals, in conjunction with other factors such as the use of staggered terms, had the effect of diluting the votes of African American voters in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Plaintiffs sought a court order barring Arkansas from using these methods and compelling the State of Arkansas, or the Court if necessary, to implement new methods of election for future contests to the Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, such as single member districts and cumulative voting.

On February 21, 2020, the district court issued an order granting the defendants' motion to dismiss the claims brought against the State of Arkansas, the Board of Apportionment, and Board of Election Commissioners on the grounds of sovereign immunity, and further ordered the plaintiffs to produce additional evidence to support their alleged Section 2 violation.

On April 10, 2020, the district court entered an order amending the court's scheduling order and staying discovery in light of the coronavirus pandemic. On August 11, 2020, the district court issued an order lifting the stay on discovery. A bench trial is scheduled for this case on April 25, 2022.

Case Library

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas - 4:19-cv-00402

• Complaint - 6/10/19
• Amended Complaint - 6/21/19
• Brief in Support of Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - 8/19/19
• Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss - 9/13/19
• Brief in Support of Defendants' Motion to Stay Discovery - 11/15/19
• Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Motion to Stay Discovery - 11/27/19
• Order - 2/21/20
• Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Motion for Amended Scheduling Order and Clarification of the Court's April 10, 2020, Order - 8/6/20
• Order - 8/11/20
• Final Scheduling Order - 8/17/20
• Joint Stipulation - 10/23/20
• Amended Final Scheduling Order - 2/23/21
• Stipulation - 3/19/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel - 8/6/21
• Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel - 8/20/21
• Defendants' Motion to Depose Newly Identified Fact Witnesses After the Close of Formal Discovery - 8/20/21
• Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Motion to Take Depositions After the Close of Formal Discovery - 8/20/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion to Withdraw Plaintiff Olly Neal - 9/3/21
• Order Granting Motion to Withdraw Plaintiff Olly Neal - 9/3/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude the Expert Report - 9/16/21
• Motion for Partial Summary Judgment - 9/16/21
• Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion - 9/16/21
• Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment - 9/16/21
• Brief in Support of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment - 9/16/21
• Plaintiffs' Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion to Exclude - 9/16/21
• Second Amended Final Scheduling Order - 9/30/21
• Defendants' Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude the Expert Report & Testimony of Dr. Peter A. Morrison - 10/7/21
• Defendants' Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment - 10/7/21
• Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Statement of Undisputed Material Facts - 10/7/21
• Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment - 10/7/21
• Plaintiffs' Response in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment - 10/7/21
• Exhibit MM: Analysis of the Statewide Election of the Arkansas Supreme Court - 10/8/21
• Plaintiffs' Reply Memorandum of Law in Support of Their Motion to Exclude the Expert Report and Testimony of Dr. Peter A. Morrison - 10/21/21
• Plaintiffs' Reply in Further Support of Their Motion for Partial Summary Judgment - 10/21/21
• Reply in Support of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment - 10/21/21
• Status Report - 11/1/21
• Defendants' Pretrial Disclosures - 12/1/21
• Plaintiffs' Pretrial Disclosures - 12/1/21
• Joint Motion for Extension of Time - 12/17/21
• Plaintiffs' Unopposed Motion to Allow Certain Witnesses to Testify as Trial by Contemporaneous Transmission From a Different Location - 12/30/21
• Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude Certain Portions of Defendants' Deposition Counter-Designations - 12/30/21
• Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude Certain Portions of Defendants' Deposition Counter-Designations - 1/5/22
• Joint Report - 1/6/22
• Defendants' Motion to Exclude Evidence and Incorporated Brief - 1/7/22
• Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Exclude Evidence and Incorporated Brief - 1/13/22
• Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration of Scheduled Trial Date, Expedited Briefing, and a Conference - 1/14/22
• Order - 1/18/22
• Defendants' Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration of Scheduled Trial Date - 1/25/22
• Motion for Leave to File Reply in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for Reconsideration - 1/27/22
• Order Denying Motion for Reconsideration - 1/27/22
• Order - 2/2/22
• Joint Stipulations - 4/18/22
• Order - 5/2/22
• Plaintiffs' Exhibit and Witness List - 5/2/22
• Defendants' Exhibit and Witness List - 5/2/22
• Order - 5/6/22
• Plaintiffs' Post-Trial Brief - 5/27/22
• Defendants' Post-Trial Brief - 6/24/22
• Plaintiffs' Post-Trial Reply Brief - 7/8/22
• Plaintiffs' Post-Trial Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law - 7/15/22