Justice opposes broadcaster’s bid to move advertising suit

The Little Rock TV broadcaster embroiled in a lawsuit with Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson over its airing of negative TV ads wants the case heard in the state’s highest court, but in a filing Tuesday, Goodson’s attorneys sought to keep the appeal in a lower court.

Goodson’s attorney, Lauren Hoover, responded to the motion to transfer by Tegna Inc., accusing the broadcaster of an attempt to “short circuit the appellate review.”

During the first round of voting in the Supreme Court race this May, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ordered Tegna and several other broadcasters to stop airing ads critical of Goodson. The ads were purchased by the Washington, D.C.-based Judicial Crisis Network.

Goodson, who advanced in that election to face attorney David Sterling in the Nov. 6 runoff, argued that the ads falsely portrayed her record. After the election, most of the other broadcasters she had sued reached an agreement not to air the ads, and they were dropped from the suit.

Tegna, however, appealed Piazza’s decision to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Instead, the case was placed on the docket of the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

In an email Tuesday, Tegna attorney John Tull called the assignment to the Court of Appeals inexplicable.

In his motion to have the case transferred to the higher court, Tull wrote that the case involves constitutional questions over restraints on free speech that are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

In her response Tuesday, Hoover said the Court of Appeals “regularly decides constitutional issues” and that Piazza’s decision to halt the ads is already backed up by prior U.S. and Arkansas Supreme Court decisions.

Under Rule 1-2 of the Arkansas Judiciary, all appeals should be filed with the Court of Appeals unless they fall under a series of exceptions, including cases “involving the interpretation or construction of the Constitution of Arkansas” and those involving elections.

Supreme Court Clerk Stacey Pectol declined to comment Tuesday on the assignment of Tegna’s appeal.

Should the case be heard before the Arkansas Supreme Court, it is likely that Gov. Asa Hutchinson will have to appoint one or more special justices to sit in for Goodson and any of her colleagues on the court who choose to recuse.