SHE’S RUNNING: Justice Karen Baker.

Count me wrong. I thought Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker’s silence on re-election plans this year indicated she’d be ending her court tenure.

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In a 5:26 p.m. news release, she said she WILL be seeking re-election.

It’s a barebone announcement emphasizing her experience. It’s almost refreshing, given the boilerplate perfected talking points — “conservative,” “family values,” — typically uttered by the thinly disguised Republicans running for elected non-partisan judgeships in Arkansas today.

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Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen R. Baker announces that she will seek re-election to a third term. Arkansas Supreme Court justices are elected in a state-wide, non-partisan election.

“I believe my experience at every level of the judiciary is unmatched and I am currently the senior, most experienced justice, on the Arkansas Supreme Court. I want to continue to put that experience to work for the people of Arkansas,” said Justice Baker.

Justice Baker has served on the Arkansas Supreme Court since 2011. Justice Baker serves as the Supreme Court liaison to the Board of Law Examiners, the Continuing Legal Education Board, and the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program. Prior to serving on the Arkansas Supreme Court, Justice Baker served as a Circuit and Juvenile Judge in the 20th Judicial District for six years and served on the Arkansas Court of Appeals for ten years.

 

Prior to serving on the bench, Justice Baker was in private practice for seven years.
Justice Baker is a graduate of Clinton High School; Arkansas Tech University; and the UALR Bowen School of Law. Justice Baker and her husband, David Hogue, have been married for thirty-eight years, live in Clinton, and have three children.

 

The election will be held May 24, 2022.

A former Republican state senator, Gunner DeLay of Fort Smith, has served as an elected circuit judge since 2020, announced earlier for the seat. He’s followed the typical Republican pattern of reaching out to Republican interest groups for support.

For example, when DeLay fudged a news release bragging about raising $50,000 for the race (that figure included a big personal loan), one of his political handlers, his Republican mouthpiece Bill Vickery, responded to my comment:

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That money spends just like the other dollars and this is going to be a big Republican year—which means he’s all in to win.

I said that sounded a lot like Vickery was saying a race for Supreme Court was partisan. You could be forgiven thinking so, given unethical Justice Rhonda Wood’s use of the likes of Gilbert Baker and Mike Huckabee to be elected previously; the challenge by former Republican Party director Chris Carnahan against incumbent Justice Robin Wynne;  the successful race by former Republican Party chair Doyle Webb’s wife Barbara to a Supreme Court seat based almost solely on her Republican resume, and the seat already held by hyperpartisan former Republican Sen. Justice Shawn Womack.

Vickery responded:

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LOTS of Republicans want to see him on the Supreme Court—given his track record and long-standing friendships—Republicans, conservatives, right leaning folks all over the state want him on the Court.

Here’s the thing: The presumption in this now blood-red state is that Republican identification means automatic election. It is a shame that it is now being used to pack the Arkansas Supreme Court, particularly given how little Republicans support legal positions valuable to working people — such as reasonable compensation for injuries, workplace or otherwise –and how much they once argued about the ills of partisan judicial elections. Sad truth is, the more I emphasize the Republican takeover of the Supreme Court — the defeat of Wynne and Baker would give the party a five-member proven partisan Republican majority on the seven-member court — the more people Expectlike Vickery appreciate the megaphone.

Here’s another thing. It doesn’t matter how much DeLay or Carnahan raise. The Republican National Leadership Committee, an opaque money group dedicated to electing Republican judges, will spend millions if necessary to get the job done as it has done in other judicial races. See the Carnahan race against Wynne, too.

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What’s the issue they’ll find with Baker? I don’t know. But they’ll find one. And they’ll wrap it into a caricature suitable for 30-second TV advertising, typically with ominous music worthy of the entry of Darth Vader. But there is the matter of finding free time after purchases of the tsunami of ads that will be coming from Trump’s designated liar who is the Republican candidate for governor.

 

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