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List of justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court
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The following is a list of justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Article VI, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution of 1836 established a Supreme Court; Section 2 declared it would consist of three judges, including a chief justice.
The Reconstruction Constitution of 1868, which placed the state under military control, added two justices; the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 rolled back the expansion, but stipulated that once the population of the state should "amount to one million, the General Assembly may, if deemed necessary, increase the number of judges of the Supreme Court to five." In 1889, the population milestone was reached, and the legislature authorized a total of five justices. Constitutional sanction of the enlargement came in 1924 with voter approval of Amendment 9, which also allowed for the future legislative creation of two additional judgeships. Act 205 of 1925 further increased the number of justices to seven.
Note: Some early justices were able to be elected to positions they were appointed to. Ark. Const., Amendment 29, adopted in 1938, prohibited state, county, and city appointees from being elected to the same position.
List of judges of the Superior Court of the Arkansas Territory
From 1819 to 1836, the highest court in the Arkansas Territory was the Superior Court, which consisted of presidentially-appointed judges who served four-year terms. The court was established with three judges, with a fourth added in 1828. Below is a list of the judges that constituted that court:
| Judge | Date(s) of | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| appointment | Appointing | ||
| president(s) | Notes | ||
| Monroe | did not serve | ||
| Monroe | did not serve | ||
| Monroe | |||
| Monroe | |||
| Monroe | did not serve | ||
| Monroe | |||
| Monroe | |||
| J.Q. Adams | |||
| Jackson | |||
| Monroe | |||
| J.Q. Adams | |||
| J.Q. Adams | |||
| Jackson | |||
| Jackson | |||
| Jackson | |||
| Jackson | |||
| Jackson | |||
| Jackson |
List of chief justices
| Chief Justice | In office | title=Arkansas Courts Historical Background | url=https://courts.arkansas.gov/historical%20society/history2.html | author=William B. Jones Jr. (original compiler) | publisher=State of Arkansas | work=Justices of the Supreme Court of the State of Arkansas (1836–2011) | access-date=2012-03-27 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009192150/https://courts.arkansas.gov/historical%20society/history2.html | archive-date=2012-10-09}} |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Ringo | 1836–1844 | |||||||||
| Thomas Johnson | 1845–1852 | |||||||||
| George C. Watkins | 1853–1854 | |||||||||
| Elbert H. English | 1855–1864 | After May 6, 1861, the state was part of the Confederate States of America | ||||||||
| Thomas D. W. Yonley | 1864–1866 | After April 9, 1865, the state was once again part of the USA | ||||||||
| David Walker | 1866–1868 | Ousted by military commander | ||||||||
| William W. Wilshire | 1868–1871 | |||||||||
| John McClure | 1871–1874 | Constitution of 1868; previously an associate justice (position 5) | ||||||||
| Elbert H. English | 1874–1884 | |||||||||
| Sterling R. Cockrill | 1884–1893 | |||||||||
| Henry Gaston Bunn | 1893–1904 | Appointed; subsequently elected | ||||||||
| Joseph M. Hill | 1904–1909 | |||||||||
| Edgar A. McCulloch | 1909–1927 | Appointed; subsequently elected | ||||||||
| Jesse C. Hart | 1927–1933 | |||||||||
| Cecil E. Johnson | 1933–1936 | |||||||||
| Griffin Smith | 1937–1955 | |||||||||
| Lee Seamster | 1955–1956 | Appointed | ||||||||
| Carleton Harris | 1957–1980 | |||||||||
| John A. Fogleman | 1980 | Appointed; previously an associate justice (position 6) | ||||||||
| Richard B. Adkisson | 1980–1984 | |||||||||
| Webster Hubbell | 1984 | Appointed by Governor Bill Clinton | ||||||||
| Jack Holt Jr. | 1985–1995 | |||||||||
| Bradley D. Jesson | 1995–1996 | Appointed | ||||||||
| W. H. "Dub" Arnold | 1997–2003 | |||||||||
| Betty Dickey | 2004 | Appointed | ||||||||
| Jim Hannah | 2005–2015 | Previously an associate justice (position 5) | ||||||||
| Howard W. Brill | 2015–2016 | Appointed by Governor Asa Hutchinson | ||||||||
| John Dan Kemp | 2017–2025 | |||||||||
| Karen R. Baker | 2025–present |
List of associate justices
Position 2
| Associate Justice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (position 2) | In office | Notes | ||
| Townsend Dickinson | ||||
| George W. Paschal | ||||
| William K. Sebastian | ||||
| Williamson Simpson Oldham | ||||
| Christopher C. Scott | ||||
| Henry Massey Rector | ||||
| Hulbert F. Fairchild | ||||
| Albert Pike | ||||
| Charles A. Harper | ||||
| Freeman W. Compton | ||||
| Lafayette Gregg | ||||
| David Walker | ||||
| Jesse Turner | ||||
| John R. Eakin | ||||
| Burrill B. Battle | ||||
| William F. Kirby | ||||
| Thomas H. Humphreys | ||||
| R. W. Robins | ||||
| Robert A. Leflar | ||||
| Sam Dunn Robinson | ||||
| Osro Cobb | ||||
| J. Fred Jones | ||||
| Elsijane Trimble Roy | ||||
| George Howard Jr. | ||||
| John I. Purtle | ||||
| Otis H. Turner | ||||
| Donald L. Corbin | ||||
| Robin F. Wynne | ||||
| J. Cody Hiland | ||||
| Courtney Rae Hudson |
Position 3
| Associate Justice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (position 3) | In office | Notes | ||
| Thomas J. Lacy | ||||
| Edward Cross | ||||
| William Conway | ||||
| David Walker | ||||
| Thomas Burton Hanly | ||||
| Felix Ives Batson | ||||
| Freeman W. Compton | ||||
| John J. Clendenin | ||||
| Thomas M. Bowen | ||||
| John E. Bennett | ||||
| Freeman W. Compton | ||||
| William M. Harrison | ||||
| William W. Smith | ||||
| Monte H. Sandels | ||||
| William W. Mansfield | ||||
| James E. Riddick | ||||
| Jesse C. Hart | ||||
| Edgar L. McHaney | ||||
| Charles C. Wine | ||||
| George Rose Smith | ||||
| Tom Glaze | ||||
| Elana Wills | ||||
| Courtney Rae Hudson | ||||
| J. Cody Hiland |
Position 4
| Associate Justice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (position 4) | In office | Notes | ||
| William M. Harrison | ||||
| Marshall L. Stephenson | ||||
| Wilson E. Hemingway | ||||
| Richard H. Powell | ||||
| Carroll D. Wood | ||||
| Turner Butler | ||||
| William R. Donham | ||||
| J. Seaborn Holt | ||||
| Neill Bohlinger | ||||
| J. Frank Holt | ||||
| Hugh M. Bland | ||||
| Conley Byrd | ||||
| Richard Mays | ||||
| Robert H. Dudley | ||||
| Ray Thornton | ||||
| Jim Gunter | ||||
| Josephine L. Hart | ||||
| Barbara Womack Webb |
Position 5
| Associate Justice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (position 5) | In office | Notes | ||
| John E. McClure | ||||
| Elhanan J. Searle | ||||
| Simon Pollard Hughes Jr. | ||||
| Edgar A. McCulloch | ||||
| Samuel Frauenthal | ||||
| Frank G. Smith | ||||
| Edwin Dunaway | ||||
| Paul Ward | ||||
| J. Frank Holt | ||||
| P. A. "Les" Hollingsworth | ||||
| David Newbern | ||||
| Lavenski Smith | ||||
| Jim Hannah | ||||
| Betty Dickey | ||||
| Paul Danielson | ||||
| Shawn Womack |
Position 6
| Associate Justice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (position 6) | In office | Notes | ||
| William F. Kirby | ||||
| Basil Baker | ||||
| Karl Greenhaw | ||||
| Ben Carter | ||||
| Robert C. Knox | ||||
| Minor W. Millwee | ||||
| William J. Smith | ||||
| James D. Johnson | ||||
| Guy Amsler | ||||
| John A. Fogleman | ||||
| John F. Stroud Jr. | ||||
| Steele Hays | ||||
| Andree Layton Roaf | ||||
| Annabelle Clinton Imber Tuck | ||||
| William H. Bowen | ||||
| Ronald Lee Sheffield | ||||
| Karen R. Baker | ||||
| Nicholas Bronni |
Position 7
| Associate Justice | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (position 7) | In office | Notes | ||
| James W. Mehaffy | ||||
| Tom M. Mehaffy | ||||
| Ed F. McFaddin | ||||
| Lyle Brown | ||||
| Elsijane Trimble Roy | ||||
| Darrell Hickman | ||||
| Dale Price | ||||
| Robert L. Brown | ||||
| Cliff Hoofman | ||||
| Rhonda K. Wood |
References
References
- William B. Jones Jr. (original compiler). "Arkansas Courts Historical Background". State of Arkansas.
- Hempstead, Samuel H.. (1856). "Hempstead's Reports".
- Jones, William B. Jr.. (August 23, 2023). "Supreme Court of Arkansas".
- Bicentennial Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. (1983). "Judges of the United States".
- William B. Jones Jr. (original compiler). "Arkansas Courts Historical Background". State of Arkansas.
- Brown, Walter Lee. (1997). "A Life of Albert Pike". [[University of Arkansas Press.
- (December 8, 2014). "Robert L. Brown - Judgepedia".
- (October 6, 2014). "Cliff Hoofman - Judgepedia".
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