{"id":102228,"date":"2024-06-02T14:38:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T19:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102228"},"modified":"2024-06-02T14:38:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T19:38:06","slug":"102228","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=102228","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Arkansas Supreme Court sanctions Pulaski County circuit judge over ruling on guns in courthouses.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Friday rebuked Pulaski County Circuit Judge Morgan \u201cChip\u201d Welch for violating rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct that require judges to promote confidence in the judiciary, demonstrate impartiality and act without bias.<\/p>\n

The written admonishment comes in the form of an unsigned order that requires Welch to take a six-week online judicial ethics course by the end of July plus complete another three hours of ethics training before October. . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cLabeling and referring to an opinion by the Supreme Court of Arkansas as \u2018LOCO\u2019 erodes public confidence. His written opinion stating that the Supreme Court\u2019s opinion \u2018creates a new class of unlicensed, heretofore untrained, armed lawyers in courthouses of the State\u2019 also erodes public confidence. To suggest that this court created a class of armed lawyers is dangerous, and it undermines the public\u2019s understanding of the judiciary\u2019s role,\u201d the order states. \u201cWe interpret laws, we do not make them, and Judge Welch\u2019s suggestion to the contrary damages the public\u2019s view of the separation of powers and the role of the judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LOCO label was found to be a violation of Rule 2.3, a prohibition against showing bias or prejudice. The order invokes a ban on negative stereotyping while noting his duties include conducting commitment hearings in mental-health court.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] think he should be more circumspect with his word choice. Using the Spanish word loco, meaning crazy, cavalierly referring to another court\u2019s judicial order in a joking manner exceeds the bounds of appropriate judicial behavior. And when given an opportunity to respond, to admit only that he should have had better editing skills, suggests a lack of judicial maturity and reflection,\u201d the order states.<\/p>\n

Further, judicial code Rule 2.2 regarding impartiality and fairness was violated when Welch \u201cmade it clear in his written order that he disagreed with this court\u2019s interpretation of the statute and with the statute itself. His opinion was sprinkled with disparaging remarks about the court\u2019s interpretation of the statute.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

The gun issue was before the high court as a result of a 2022 lawsuit by three lawyers, Chris Corbitt, Ben Motal and Robert Steinbuch, who argued that Act 1087 of 2017, codified as Arkansas Code 5-73-122, allowed lawyers as \u201cofficers of the court\u201d to carry handguns into the state\u2019s courthouses and courtrooms. Welch dismissed the suit in March 2023, leading to the appeal that brought the issue to the Supreme Court this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arkansas Supreme Court sanctions Pulaski County circuit judge over ruling on guns in courthouses. The Arkansas Supreme Court on Friday rebuked Pulaski County Circuit Judge Morgan \u201cChip\u201d Welch for violating rules of the Code of Judicial Conduct that require judges to promote confidence in the judiciary, demonstrate impartiality and act without bias. The written admonishment … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-courts","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=102228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102229,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102228\/revisions\/102229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=102228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=102228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=102228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}