By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Judicial races on the ballot Tuesday include a pair of contests for state Supreme Court seats and one race for a seat on the state Court of Appeals.
Seeking Position 3 on the Supreme Court are John Fogleman, a circuit judge for the 20th Judicial District, and Courtney Henry, a member of the state Court of Appeals.
Position 3 is now held by Justice Elana Wills, who was appointed to complete the remainder of Justice Tom Glaze’s term after Glaze retired.
Fogleman, 54, served as Marion city attorney and Crittenden County deputy prosecutor before being elected to the bench in 1994.
As a prosecutor, Fogleman gained attention for prosecuting Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley on murder charges in the deaths of three 8-year-old boys. Supporters of the defendants, dubbed the “West Memphis Three,” claimed then and continue to claim that Fogleman prosecuted the case on scant evidence.
Echols was sentenced to death, while Baldwin and Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison. Fogleman has said he stands by his decisions in the case.
Fogleman has said he is the candidate with the most experience in the courtroom. In a campaign tactic unusual for judges, he has taken on his opponent by name in a campaign ad.
“What’s Courtney Henry’s experience? She’s been a judge for barely a year,” an announcer says in one of Fogleman’s ads.
Henry, 37, was a law clerk at the state Court of Appeals for eight years before being elected to that court in 2008.
Henry has said she is the more qualified candidate because she is “the only candidate in this race who has devoted her legal career to the appellate law field.”
Henry also has said she considers herself a constructionist when it comes to the Constitution. In a recent survey by the Christian conservative Family Council, Henry said, “I do not believe Supreme Court justices should be activists, trying to change the law to fit a social agenda.”
Also on the ballot is a race for Position 6 between state Court of Appeals Judge Karen Baker, 6th Judicial District Circuit Judge Tim Fox and Little Rock lawyer Evelyn Moorehead.
Position 6 is now held by Ron Sheffield, who was appointed to complete the remainder of Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber’s term after Imber retired.
Baker, 46, served as 20th Judicial District Circuit Judge from 1995-2000 and has been a state Court of Appeals judge since 2001.
She has said that her “experience in life and in the law give me the background necessary to make the decisions our Supreme Court must make.”
Fox, 52, worked in private practice and served as North Little Rock’s chief assistant city attorney and North Little Rock District Court prosecutor before being elected 6th District circuit judge in 2002. His campaign ads tout his 29 years of courtroom experience.
“A number of the cases I resolved involved constitutional issues and other issues that are of the type heard on appeal by the Arkansas Supreme Court,” Fox wrote on his campaign website.
One of those cases was a lawsuit challenging a state rule against placing foster children with gay adults. Fox ruled in 2004 that the ban was unconstitutional, and the state Supreme Court later upheld his ruling.
Moorehead, 52, has been practicing law since 1985 and has served as a law clerk for the Arkansas Supreme Court. If elected, she would be the first black elected to the state Supreme Court.
Moorehead’s campaign website urges voters to choose her “for more balance, more reason” on the court. She has said that if elected, she will push for changes to filing requirements and rules to make the appellate system less difficult for the poor to navigate.
Voters also will decide a race for District 2, Position 1 on the state Court of Appeals between incumbent Jo Hart and challenger Rhonda Wood, circuit judge for the 20th Judicial District. The race will appear on ballots in District 2, which includes 18 counties in North-Central Arkansas.
Hart, 66, joined the Army in 1965 and served on active duty in Asia until 1968. In 1969 she entered the Army Reserves, eventually achieving the rank of colonel in the Judge Advocates Corp. She was a lawyer in private practice for 27 years before being elected to the Court of Appeals in 1998.
In announcing her candidacy, Hart said, “My decades of experience and proven dedication to the law coupled with the demonstrated confidence that the people of North Central Arkansas have historically shown me makes me the clear choice.”
Wood, 40, has been a lawyer in private practice and served as assistant dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s law school. Then-Gov. Mike Huckabee appointed her to the 20th District Circuit Judge position in 2006, and she subsequently was elected to the seat.
Wood has said she is the more qualified candidate because she is “the only candidate running with experience as a trial court judge.” She has described her political views as “conservative.”
By law, judicial races in Arkansas are nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party has endorsed Wood and referred to her, when announcing its endorsements, as a Republican.
