Arkansas Chief Justice Karen Baker has terminated 10 court staff members

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Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Karen Baker (image via Arkansas judiciary).

The newly appointed chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court is embroiled in a battle of sorts with her fellow justices after she single-handedly attempted to fire more than 10 court employees.

Karen Baker was elected to the court in November, then sworn in on Jan. 1 as the state’s first elected female chief justice. Associate justices Cody Hiland and Nicholas Bronni were also sworn in along with Baker. A mere two days after being sworn in, Baker tried to fire 10 state court employees, despite the chief justice’s lacking the authority under state law to terminate their employment without consent of other justices.

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Five of the six associate justices — Rhonda Wood, Barbara Webb, Shawn Womack, Cody Hiland and Nicholas Bronni — signed on to a five-page administrative order Friday officially denouncing Baker’s actions and rescinding any terminations Baker attempted to effectuate. Associate Justice Courtney Hudson did not participate in the order.

The order detailed the events it said had “been percolating but came to a head on January 2, 2025.” It said that Baker called the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Director of Emergency Preparedness and Chief of Supreme Court Police into her office for a meeting during which she confronted the two about their responses to Freedom of Information Act requests involving her. At the time, Baker said that she had prepared letters of termination for the two employees, but that she was unsure about whether she would fire them.

According to the order, Baker then “purported to fire” the police chief the next day and also prepared termination letters for at least 10 other employees of the Administrative Office of the Courts, including the director. Those employees included the directors of the state’s juvenile justice division, judicial education and alternative dispute resolution, finance and administration, legal services, court information systems, and Commission on Children, Youth, and Families.

The same day, five associate justices sent a letter to the state personnel office directing it not to remove any court employees from the state’s payroll approval of the majority of the court.

Some court employees, including the director, cannot be terminated without approval from at least four of the Supreme Court’s seven members. Others can only be terminated with the Administrative Officer of the Courts Director’s approval, which Director Marty Sullivan did not give.

Under state law, and as the justices’ order noted, Sullivan “serves at the pleasure of the entire court, not the Chief Justice alone.”

Sullivan sent a letter to Baker on Jan. 3, saying that it was “an extremely sad day for those who care about the administration of justice in the State of Arkansas.” Sullivan continued, calling Baker’s unilateral firings “reprehensible” and “disappointing and beneath the dignity of the office.”

Sullivan’s letter also alluded to ongoing tensions within the judiciary.

“What my team has endured the last few months is sad, outrageous, and completely unacceptable,” Sullivan wrote.

He went on to laud the other members of his team for their dedicated public service and to say that their termination, “reeks of retaliation and intimidation.”

The justices said in their order that Baker neither consulted nor even notified them about this unilateral decision to fire “long-tenured court employees,” and later refused to meet with the justice after they requested to speak to her about the matter.

The order went on to detail Baker’s explanation for attempting to fire the employees:

Yet when asked why these ten employees were being terminated, the Chief Justice stated that she had “millions of reasons.” Then, when asked about those employees’ families and the fact that they were scared and fearful, the Chief Justice responded by saying that it was “good” for those employees to be scared. The Chief Justice then ended that discussion.

According to Baker’s fellow justices the terminations “appear to be retaliatory,” against employees who had pending human-resources complaints against her.

“This situation is unnecessary and unfortunate,” said the order. “The court thanks the employees targeted for termination for their service and offers its sincere apologies to their families for this situation.

“If carried out, those terminations would disrupt the administration of justice across the state of Arkansas,” said the order, which rescinded all terminations that occurred on or after Jan. 1.

You can read the full order here.