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Robin Wynne
Robin Wynne was a judge for Position 2 of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He assumed office on January 1, 2015. He left office on June 21, 2023.
Wynne ran for re-election for the Position 2 judge of the Arkansas Supreme Court. He won in the general runoff election on November 8, 2022.
Wynne was elected as a judge for Position 2 of the Arkansas Supreme Court in May 2014, effective January 1, 2015.[1][2] To read more about judicial selection in Arkansas click here.
Wynne died on June 21, 2023.[3]
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country. As part of this study, we assigned each justice a Confidence Score describing our confidence in the degree of partisanship exhibited by the justices' past partisan behavior, before they joined the court.[4] Wynne received a confidence score of Indeterminate.[5] Click here to read more about this study.
Biography
Wynne received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College in 1975 and his J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1978. Wynne then attended the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University from 1979 to 1980.[6]
Prior to his election to the Arkansas Supreme Court, Wynne was a judge of the Arkansas Court of Appeals, District 5. He was elected to that position in 2010, effective January 1, 2011.[6] From 2004 to 2010 Wynne served as a judge on the Dallas County District Court, and before that he served as the city attorney for Fordyce, Arkansas from 1989 to 2004. From 1989 to 1998 Wynne was a deputy prosecuting attorney for the 13th Judicial District. Wynne also served as a representative in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1985 to 1988.
Elections
2022
See also: Arkansas Supreme Court elections, 2022
General runoff election
General runoff election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2
Incumbent Robin Wynne defeated Chris Carnahan in the general runoff election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Robin Wynne (Nonpartisan) | 58.4 | 450,094 |
 | Chris Carnahan (Nonpartisan)  | 41.6 | 321,123 | |
| Total votes: 771,217 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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General election
General election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2
Incumbent Robin Wynne and Chris Carnahan advanced to a runoff. They defeated David Sterling in the general election for Arkansas Supreme Court Position 2 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robin Wynne (Nonpartisan) | 49.5 | 202,815 |
| ✔ | | Chris Carnahan (Nonpartisan) | 28.8 | 117,859 |
 | David Sterling (Nonpartisan) | 21.7 | 88,938 | |
| Total votes: 409,612 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2014
- See also : Arkansas Supreme Court elections, 2014
Wynne ran for election to the Arkansas Supreme Court and won the general election on May 20, 2014, receiving 52.0 percent of the vote. [1][2]
2012
- See also: Arkansas judicial elections, 2012
Wynne was re-elected to District 5 of the court of appeals after running unopposed in the primary election on May 22, 2012.[7]
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Robin Wynne did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Analysis
Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship (2020)
Last updated: June 15, 2020
In 2020, Ballotpedia published Ballotpedia Courts: State Partisanship, a study examining the partisan affiliation of all state supreme court justices in the country as of June 15, 2020.
The study presented Confidence Scores that represented our confidence in each justice's degree of partisan affiliation. This was not a measure of where a justice fell on an ideological spectrum, but rather a measure of how much confidence we had that a justice was or had been affiliated with a political party. The scores were based on seven factors, including but not limited to party registration.[8]
The five resulting categories of Confidence Scores were:
- Strong Democrat
- Mild Democrat
- Indeterminate[9]
- Mild Republican
- Strong Republican
This justice's Confidence Score, as well as the factors contributing to that score, is presented below. The information below was current as of June 2020.
Robin
Wynne
Arkansas
- Partisan Confidence Score:
Indeterminate - Judicial Selection Method:
Elected - Key Factors:
- Donated less than $2,000 to Democratic candidates
Partisan Profile
Details:
Wynne donated $100 to Democratic candidates and organizations.
Noteworthy events
Open Primaries Arkansas and Arkansas Voters First signature validity lawsuit (2020)
On July 14, 2020, Secretary of State John Thurston issued a statement of insufficiency for a redistricting initiative, a top-four ranked-choice voting initiative, and a casino initiative. Thurston determined that the signatures submitted on July 6 for the three citizen initiatives were insufficient under § 7-9-601(b)(3), which required that, "upon submission of the sponsor’s list of paid canvassers to the Secretary of State, the sponsor shall certify to the Secretary of State that each paid canvasser in the sponsor’s employ has passed a criminal background check in accordance with this section."[10] Arkansas Wins in 2020, sponsors of the amendment to authorize 16 additional casinos, failed to file the certification and challenged the insufficiency. They later dropped their legal challenges and ended their attempt to qualify for the 2020 ballot on August 7, 2020. Arkansas Voters First (sponsors of the redistricting measure) and Open Primaries Arkansas (sponsors of the ranked-choice voting measure) submitted certifications stating that the background checks were acquired, but did not say the checks were passed.
Retired Circuit Judge John Fogleman was appointed by the Arkansas Supreme Court on July 24, 2020, as a special master to resolve the disputes between Arkansas Voters First, Open Primaries Arkansas, and the Secretary of State concerning petition circulator background check certifications and signature validity. Fogleman's report was submitted to the state supreme court on August 10, 2020. In the report, Fogleman concluded that the Supreme Court had to decide whether or not the campaigns' certifications complied with Arkansas Code § 7-9-601(b)(3), requiring sponsors to certify that canvassers passed their background checks. Fogleman said if the court found that the certifications did not comply with state law, then neither petition would have enough valid signatures to qualify for a cure period to collect additional signatures to cure insufficiency. If the court instead found that the certifications did comply with state law, Fogleman said the Secretary of State would have erroneously rejected 586 signatures for the Open Primaries Arkansas measure.[11]
The ranked-choice voting initiative and redistricting initiative were certified for the ballot on August 21, 2020, 74 days before the November 2020 general election. Secretary of State John Thurston certified both measures for the ballot "for coding purposes and preparation purposes only, pending the outcome of the litigation." Under Arkansas Code § 7-5-204, if the secretary of state has not determined a petition's sufficiency by the 75th day before the general election or if a measure is being challenged in court, the measure must be placed on the ballot. If the measure is later declared insufficient or invalid, votes for the measure are not counted or certified.[12]
On August 27, 2020, Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of Secretary of State Thurston. Associate Justice Robin Wynne, who wrote the majority opinion, said, "Simply acquiring or obtaining a background check is not sufficient under the plain language of the statute. The results of the background checks are not required to be filed with the Secretary of State, and the certification is the only assurance the public receives that the paid canvassers ‘passed’ background checks." The state supreme court ruled, "In sum, we hold that petitioners did not comply with Arkansas Code Annotated section 7-9-601(b)(3) when they failed to certify that their paid canvassers had passed criminal background checks. Accordingly, the initiative petitions at issue are insufficient and petitioners are not entitled to a cure period or any other relief." Justice Josephine Linker Hart dissented, writing, "Today, the majority has disenfranchised more than 90,000 citizens. By signing the petition, these registered voters clearly manifested their desire to have these issues placed on the ballot. ... there is no evidence that the certification language directly affected the validity of even a single petition part."[13][14] To read the majority opinion and dissent click here
Professional misconduct complaint (2018)
On September 20, 2018, the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disciplinary Commission announced charges of ethical misconduct against Arkansas Supreme Court Justices Dan Kemp, Robin Wynne, Courtney Hudson Goodson, Josephine Hart, Karen Baker, and Rhonda Wood. The charges followed a complaint Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen filed in April 2017. Griffen alleged the justices did not give him enough time to respond to a ruling removing him from capital punishment cases.[15]
On April 14, 2017, Griffen filed an injunction preventing the execution of seven inmates by capital punishment. He attended a death penalty protest the same day. On April 15, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (R) asked the state supreme court to reverse Griffen's injunction and remove him from a case involving the death penalty. The supreme court clerk contacted Griffen about Rutledge's request the afternoon of April 15 and gave Griffen until 9 a.m. April 17 to respond. He was removed from the case after failing to respond by the deadline.[16]
The judicial commission said the justices did not provide Griffen with a sufficient amount of time to respond.[16]
State supreme court judicial selection in Arkansas
- See also: Judicial selection in Arkansas
The seven justices on the Arkansas Supreme Court are selected through nonpartisan elections. They compete in nonpartisan general elections—occurring at the same time as the primary elections for other state officials—in which the candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the vote wins the seat. If no candidate garners a majority of the vote, the top two candidates compete in a runoff during the November general election.[17]
The winners are elected to eight-year terms.[17]
Qualifications
To serve on this court, a justice must be:[18]
- licensed to practice law in Arkansas for at least eight years;
- a qualified elector within the geographic area from which chosen.
Chief justice
The court's chief justice is selected by voters at large and serves in that capacity for a full eight-year term.[19]
Vacancies
In the event of a midterm vacancy, an interim judge is selected by the governor to fill the empty seat. If the open seat would have been filled at the next general election if the vacancy did not occur, the appointed justice will serve the remainder of the unexpired term. If the open seat would not have been regularly filled at the next general election, the appointee will serve until the next general election if the vacancy occurred more than four months prior to the election. If the vacancy occurs less than four months prior to the next general election, then the justice will serve until the second succeeding general election. A justice appointed by the governor to serve an unexpired term is ineligible to run for re-election to their seat.[17]
The map below highlights how vacancies are filled in state supreme courts across the country.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Arkansas Online, "2014 Elections Filings, Non-partisan judicial races," accessed March 26, 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arkansas Secretary of State, "Nonpartisan Election Results," accessed May 20, 2014
- ↑ SCNow, "Robin Wynne, justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court since 2015, has died at age 70," June 22, 2023
- ↑ We calculated confidence scores by collecting several data points such as party registration, donations, and previous political campaigns.
- ↑ The five possible confidence scores were: Strong Democrat, Mild Democrat, Indeterminate, Mild Republican, and Strong Republican.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 The Arkansas Judiciary, "Robin F. Wynne," accessed June 13, 2014
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Candidate Information," accessed 2012
- ↑ The seven factors were party registration, donations made to partisan candidates, donations made to political parties, donations received from political parties or bodies with clear political affiliation, participation in political campaigns, the partisanship of the body responsible for appointing the justice, and state trifecta status when the justice joined the court.
- ↑ An Indeterminate score indicates that there is either not enough information about the justice’s partisan affiliations or that our research found conflicting partisan affiliations.
- ↑ A.C.A., "§ 7-9-601 - Hiring and training of paid canvassers — Definition," accessed June 14, 2021
- ↑ Arkansas Times, "Special master says unmeetable canvassing requirement could doom open primary and legislative redistricting amendments," accessed August 13, 2020
- ↑ Arkansas Secretary of State, "Statement from Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston Regarding Statewide Ballot Measures," accessed August 21, 2020
- ↑ Talk Business, "Arkansas Supreme Court disqualifies redistricting, open primaries efforts," accessed August 27, 2020
- ↑ Arkansas Judiciary, "BONNIE MILLER, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF ARKANSAS VOTERS FIRST AND OPEN PRIMARIES ARKANSAS, BALLOT QUESTION COMMITTEES V. JOHN THURSTON, IN HIS CAPACITY AS ARKANSAS SECRETARY OF STATE," accessed August 27, 2020
- ↑ Arkansas Judicial Discipline & Disciplinary Commission, "Press release," accessed September 20, 2018
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Talk Business & Politics, "Panel files formal charges against six Arkansas Supreme Court justices over Griffen fight," accessed September 20, 2018
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Arkansas Judiciary, "Arkansas Supreme Court," accessed March 27, 2023 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "ssc" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Services, "Ark. Const. Amendment 80, §16," accessed April 15, 2025
- ↑ Justia, "Arkansas Constitution - Amendment 80 - Qualifications of justices and judges.," accessed March 27, 2023
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Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Arkansas, Western District of Arkansas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Arkansas, Western District of Arkansas
State courts:
Arkansas Supreme Court • Arkansas Court of Appeals • Arkansas Circuit Courts • Arkansas District Courts • Arkansas City Courts
State resources:
Courts in Arkansas • Arkansas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Arkansas
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