Why aren’t they showing the love? The story begins in September 2024 (or earlier), when Justice Courtney Hudson filed a complaint seeking an injunction to block the release of emails exchanged between herself and Lisa Ballard, then the Director of the Committee on Professional Conduct, in response to a FOIA request.

Here is a per curiam in which five justices take jurisdiction over the circuit court case, dismissing it with prejudice, and Justice Baker dissents.

Justice Baker appears to be right, to me. Arkansas Code Annotated section 25-19-105(b)(7) gives an exemption to FOIA for correspondence of a Supreme Court Justice.

On a personal note, there does not seem to be an exemption for the audio recordings made of hearings by court reporters. Judge Rudofsky of Federal Court and Judge Susan Weaver of State Court have blocked me from obtaining copies of recordings that, by my memory and notes, don’t match up to the written transcriptions. My request for the federal public records was made through motion in court documents, not labeled “FOIA”. Still, a judge should treat any request for public documents that don’t fit into another exemption as a FOIA request.

One FOIA I made for a hearing presided over by Judge Susan Weaver was denied by the vile judge herself. It is too late for me to appeal that decision, but anyone else (ie Betty Figueroa) is allowed to make the same request and appeal a negative response. I will make requests for the two other state court hearings and one federal. Stay tuned.