The real crisis State judiciary being attacked

It is stunning to watch the television commercials from the “Judicial Crisis Network” eviscerate Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson for wrongdoing, for running around with filth, sleeping with dogs, and making big bucks doing it.

Of course, this gathering of the lynch mob evolved from a divorce proceeding in which Justice Goodson was personally involved, apparently from a former husband with solid political connections to the party then in control of the government in Arkansas.

It has been written by some columnists along the way that, as a part of that divorce, Justice Goodson abandoned her children—and that is certainly not true. Any review of that record (Washington County Case No. 72 DR-10-1080) would clearly disclose that Justice Goodson never gave up her parental duties or rights. And how many male justices have there been with multiple marriages, with no one needing to say, “Let him among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone”?

And now the “Judicial Crisis Network” screams that Justice Goodson has taken huge sums from various and multiple shysters, obviously in exchange for her controlling vote on the seven-member Arkansas Supreme Court—but the mob gives not a single instance when Justice Goodson has violated any law or ruled on any case when her attorney husband, or any of his cohorts, have had any interest at all. And the gifts she received were primarily from her husband-to-be and which she disclosed herself. If there was anything nefarious about this, well, it would be a rare culprit who rats on herself or himself.

Now, for the broad base of cynics out there reading this, let me make my disclosure of personal interest. There is none! I don’t know Courtney Goodson. I have practiced law since 1973, 45 years, and I once sat on the Arkansas Supreme Court for one case, appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe, a friend since law school. I think Courtney Goodson said hello to me one morning. I have never met her husband, John Goodson.

I don’t have any cases before the appellate courts of Arkansas right now, and at 70 years old, it may be unlikely I will ever return. If I do, and having been there dozens of times in the past, I strongly believe the justices on the Arkansas Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals will rule for or against my client’s case based on their collective evaluation of the issues presented and preserved in the record. In my last case on appeal, Justice Goodson and every other justice on the state Supreme Court ruled against my client’s position, except for Chief Justice Dan Kemp, who won his office in a race against Justice Goodson.

It is not, of course, just Justice Goodson being attacked in this current political cycle. The entire legal system is being attacked by “dark money” seeking to change the judicial system to nothing more than an esoteric monastery, impotent to resolve the societal issues traditionally entrusted with the common law of our states and nation. This is generally the body of law which has evolved following the Norman Conquest of 1066. That’s a lot of precedents to be legislatively usurped by our current legislators now busy laying a brick highway to the state treasury with their monuments, other religious hypocrisy, and defiance of long-established constitutional law.

It is my experience in trying cases for many years that economic disparity between the parties in litigation is often—too often—decisive. That does not seem to be enough of an advantage to these bastions of wealth. The “dark money” billionaires in hiding want judges who will do their bidding, so they ruthlessly attack good judges like Justice Goodson—and they act behind their hired hands to even attack the judicial and jury system which has been considered one of the three supposedly equal branches of government since this nation was founded.

The Legislature wants to usurp the judicial function, claiming for itself the right to develop the rules for the courts of law to follow, limiting the function of the jury in our system—a few more bricks on the brick highway our state Legislature insists on paving directly into our state treasury.

Arkansas cannot and will not be turned into a fiefdom within the rights established by both our national and our state constitutions. Getting to this inevitable point, however, will cost our state millions.