This is a narrow decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court on a somewhat technical point, but there’s a simple bottom line. The legislature can pass all the laws it wants to protect the blood-sucking check cashing industry, but they can’t override the usury provision in the Arkansas Constitution. In the particular case, a bonding company is going to have to pay for claims by people who successfully sued over illegal interest rates on payday loans.

Eventually, the Supreme Court will squarely address the constitutionality of the state check cashing law. Today’s decision gives hope to the challengers.

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