A legislative takeover

Last September, I wrote a guest column for this paper in which I criticized proposed Senate Joint Resolution 8, which would authorize the Legislature to seize the Arkansas Supreme Court’s power to adopt rules of practice and procedure for Arkansas courts. Dan Greenberg then wrote in response that the Legislature should adopt the court rules to prevent something he calls “judicial supremacy.”

But do we really want the Legislature deciding how our courts of law should operate? Of course not. Adopting procedural rules for our courts is clearly legislative overreach and not within the Legislature’s area of expertise.

Greenberg next stated that a majority of state legislatures play a significant role in deciding judicial procedures across the nation. What he did not say is that only a handful of states permit legislatures to adopt judicial rules of practice and procedure, which can supersede Supreme Court judicial rules. Yet that is precisely what SJR8 would allow. Nor did he reveal that under the Rules Enabling Act of 1934, Congress does not have the power to adopt its own rules of practice and procedure for the federal courts, as SJR8 proposes be done for state courts. Congress may only reject or modify proposed rules from the judiciary by a certain date.

For the people of Arkansas to approve SJR8 next November would legitimatize a legislative takeover of judicial rulemaking authority. SJR8 plainly violates the separation of powers set forth in both our state Constitution and the United States Constitution and should be soundly rejected. ROBERT L. BROWN Little Rock Robert L. Brown is a retired Supreme Court justice.