Arkansas Court of Appeals

Seal of Arkansas

The Arkansas Court of Appeals is the intermediate appellate court for the state of Arkansas. It was created in 1978 by Amendment 58 of the Arkansas Constitution, which was implemented by Act 208 of the Arkansas General Assembly in 1979. The court handed down its first opinions for publication on August 8, 1979.

Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of the Arkansas Court of Appeals is determined by the Arkansas Supreme Court. There is no right of appeal from the Arkansas Court of Appeals to the Arkansas Supreme Court. However, opinions decided by the court may be reviewed by the Arkansas Supreme Court under three circumstances: on application by a party to the appeal, upon certification of the Arkansas Court of Appeals, or if the Arkansas Supreme Court decides the case is one that should have originally been assigned to it.^[1]

Opinions

The Arkansas Court of Appeals issues a large number of opinions, but does not publish all of them. Instead, only those opinions that "resolve novel or unusual questions" are released for publication by the state's Reporter of Decisions.^[2]

Judges

Originally, there were six judges on the court, this number was expanded by legislation to nine and then twelve. The first judges of the court were appointed by Bill Clinton, during his first term as Governor of Arkansas. The judges are now elected in staggered terms of eight years in a statewide, non-partisan election.

The state of Arkansas is divided into seven districts for the election of judges to the Arkansas Court of Appeals, under Act 1812 of 2003. The qualifications for sitting on the Arkansas Court of Appeals are the same as for the Arkansas Supreme Court.

The judges currently on the court are:^[3]

• Chief Judge Robert J. Gladwin, District 3, Position 1
• Judge Raymond R. Abramson, District 1, Position 1
• Judge Phillip Whiteaker, District 1, Position 2
• Judge Bart Virden, District 2, Position 1
• Judge Cliff Hoofman, District 2, Position 2
• Judge Kenneth Hixson, District 3, Position 2
• Judge Brandon Harrison, District 4, Position 1
• Judge David M. Glover, District 4, Position 2
• Judge Mike Kinard, District 5
• Judge Rita W. Gruber, District 6, Position 1
• Judge Larry D. Vaught, District 6, Position 2
• Judge Waymond M. Brown, District 7

See also

• Courts of Arkansas

References

External links

• Homepage of the Arkansas Court of Appeals
• Diagram of the structure of the Arkansas Court System

State Intermediate Appellate Courts Alabama: Civil / Criminal Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Nebraska New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania: Superior Court / Commonwealth Court South Carolina Tennessee: Civil / Criminal Texas Utah Virginia Washington Wisconsin Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming do not have intermediate appellate courts.