Depositions halted by state justices in civil rights case

One-page order stems from legal fight over constitutionality of Arkansas law

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ highest court Thursday halted efforts to depose two state legislators and seek documents related to a 2015 law banning cities and counties from enacting anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

The Arkansas Supreme Court issued a one-page order halting the depositions and the document requests while it considers the state’s argument the material doesn’t have to be released to attorneys in the case.

The one-page order stems from an ongoing legal fight over the constitutionality of a state law prohibiting cities from enacting protections not covered by state law. Arkansas’ civil rights law doesn’t cover sexual orientation or gender identity.

The state had sought to halt the depositions of the sponsors of the law and other requests from Fayetteville

and the American Civil Liberties Union for documents related to the ban, saying it would have “eviscerated” long-standing protections for legislators.

Act 137 deals with uniformity in nondiscrimination laws throughout the state for the benefit of intrastate commerce. Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Berryville, and Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, sponsored the law, which the Legislature passed in February 2015.

Fayetteville’s ordinance lets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents appeal to the city if they are fired from a job or evicted because of possibly discriminatory reasons. A commission was set up to take up such cases but has reviewed none so far. Voters approved the ordinance in September 2015.

A Washington County judge earlier this month refused to halt subpoenas and said legislative privilege doesn’t protect lawmakers from being questioned about anything other than speeches or debates in either chamber of the Legislature.

“The attorney general is grateful that the state Supreme Court has stayed discovery and agreed to take the case,” said Judd Deere, a spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. “As she has argued, the lower court was incorrect in its ruling regarding executive and legislative privilege.”

The high court ruled earlier this year the city’s ordinance violated the ban on local protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Justices sent the case back to Washington County and said they couldn’t rule on the state law’s constitutionality yet since it wasn’t addressed in the lower court.

Fayetteville argued a stay wasn’t needed and the court should have allowed both sides to agree on what documents and testimony would have been privileged. Fayetteville City Attorney Kit Williams said the state’s argument would be an expansion of lawmakers’ protections.

“I’m concerned that they are placing legislators in such a position where they can make statements that you and I would be responsible for away from the chambers,” Williams said. “That kind of like a two-tier system.”