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Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice harassed court staff, per HR report filed in ongoing litigation

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5 months ago

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arkansasadvocate.com – Tess Vrbin – 2025-03-13 15:38:00

UPDATED: Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice harassed court staff, per human resources report

by Tess Vrbin, Arkansas Advocate
March 13, 2025

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4:25 p.m. on March 13, 2025, to clarify whose emails Justice Hudson filed into evidence in a 2024 lawsuit, and again at 5:05 p.m. to include the Supreme Court’s latest per curiam order and Tom Mars’ motion for Justice Wood to recuse herself from ongoing litigation.

A report made public Thursday asserts that Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Karen Baker harassed judiciary employees on Dec. 4-5, 2024, after she was elected but before she was sworn in as the first elected female chief justice.

“Justice Baker intimidated staff, appears to have targeted female employees of color, indicated an intention to retaliate based on her perception of how employees voted, and indicated an intention to retaliate based on her perception of whether employees were cooperating with Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission’s investigation into her colleague’s conduct,” the report from the Administrative Office of the Courts human resources department states.

Baker’s behavior violated the AOC’s anti-harassment policy, according to the Jan. 10 report. The policy states in part: “Harassment undermines the integrity of the judiciary and violates the standard professional working environment to which employees are entitled… In particular, discrimination based on disability, color, gender, national origin, race, religion, or sex is strictly prohibited.”

AOC Director Marty Sullivan asked Baker on Jan. 13 to stay away from the agency’s offices and not to communicate with his staff, pending the conclusion of a Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission (JDDC) review against her. This disciplinary action is outlined in the report’s conclusion.

“If the perpetrator was under the authority of the AOC, HR would likely recommend termination or other serious disciplinary measures,” the report states. “Nevertheless, the AOC has an obligation to protect employees from further harassment.”

Baker HR report

 

The filing of the report is the latest development in an ongoing dispute between Baker and most of her colleagues since she became chief justice Jan. 1. Previously, five of the other six justices blocked Baker’s attempts to fire 10 judiciary employees, including Sullivan, and appoint three new judges to the JDDC within three days of taking the oath of office. The JDDC investigates complaints about the conduct of judges and the justices.

The five justices stated in their per curiam orders that Baker was acting beyond the scope of her new authority. Baker has repeatedly maintained that state law and the state Constitution give the chief justice the authority to act unilaterally in personnel and appointment matters.

Associate Justice Courtney Hudson did not participate in the orders blocking Baker’s actions. She and Baker also did not participate in a March 6 order requiring Baker to file the HR report with the court by Tuesday nor in a Thursday morning order that allowed the release of a redacted version of the HR report.

Associate Justice Cody Hiland also did not participate in Thursday’s initial order or the following per curiam order reiterating the court’s stance that the HR report should be made public with redactions.

The March 6 order as well as Thursday’s resulted from an administrative civil appeal Baker filed Jan. 23 against Sullivan. In that filing, her attorney, Tom Mars, asked the high court to dismiss Sullivan’s “findings and recommendations” from the human resources investigation.

Five justices said in the March 6 order that Baker’s claim of visiting the Justice Building for “completely legitimate reasons” in December was “impossible” to verify without the HR report. The report submitted Monday was initially sealed because it pertained to allegations that the high court had not ruled on, Supreme Court Clerk Kyle Burton said Tuesday.

Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office, representing Sullivan, asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to deny Baker’s request to keep the document sealed. Monday’s submission included “additional factual allegations or characterizations related to the AOC investigation and report” that did not belong in the filing, according to Griffin’s office.

Baker motion to withdraw

Mars filed a motion on Wednesday to withdraw Baker’s initial petition to the court. The motion alleges that Sullivan “decided to invent” AOC’s anti-harassment policy “out of whole cloth” shortly before completing the human resources report.

Sullivan declined to comment on the report, and Mars did not comment Thursday afternoon before publication.

Later Thursday afternoon, Mars filed a motion urging Associate Justice Rhonda Wood to recuse herself from the case. He cited Wood’s statement that “Marty Sullivan is the most amazing man on Earth” and that Baker should apologize to Sullivan during a rare public Supreme Court business meeting on Jan. 23, in which Wood and other justices were critical of Baker’s actions since becoming chief justice.

Mars said this indicated bias on Wood’s part, in addition to the fact that Wood was Baker’s opponent for the chief justice position in last year’s election that went to a runoff.

“Human nature being what it is, it would be surprising if Justice Wood did not hold at least somewhat of a grudge,” Mars wrote.

The allegations

The human resources document corroborates reports that Baker entered Sullivan’s office on Dec. 4 when he was not present. She “was observed looking throughout Mr. Sullivan’s office, including the area behind his desk” and later returned with two other people.

Their names are redacted in the document, but surveillance footage obtained via the state’s public records law and reported in December by Arkansas Business showed that Baker’s former law clerk, Department of Commerce Chief of Staff Allison Hatfield, and Hudson were the chief justice-elect’s two companions.

A court employee who saw the trio at Sullivan’s office Dec. 4 “had the distinct impression that the two [others] were purposefully distracting the employee and blocking the view,” the report states.

Baker then visited AOC’s Court Information Systems Division, where she told an employee who didn’t recognize her that the individual must not have voted for her, or voted at all, in November, the report states. The individual was one of two employees who reported feeling harassed by Baker approaching them, and witnesses corroborated their accounts, according to the HR report.

“The employees realized that Justice Baker had spoken only with employees of color and skipped the many white employees,” the report states. “The employees reported feeling targeted by Justice Baker because of the employees’ race.”

Baker also asked another Court Information Systems Division employee for information that the employee did not provide, responding with “That’s all I need to know” when the person hesitated, according to the report.

Justice Baker intimidated staff… and indicated an intention to retaliate based on her perception of whether employees were cooperating with Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission’s investigation into her colleague’s conduct.

– A report from the Administrative Office of the Courts human resources department

Court Information Systems Division director Tim Holthoff and deputy director Cecil Davis were among the 10 judiciary employees Baker attempted to fire in January. So was Pete Hollingsworth, chief of the Supreme Court Police Department, which received a complaint from a court employee who saw Baker, Hudson and Hatfield in AOC’s administrative suite, according to the report.

In the Jan. 3 order blocking the firings, Baker and Hudson’s colleagues called the firings “retaliatory.” On Jan. 2, Baker “confronted” Sullivan and Hollingsworth “about their responses to Freedom of Information Act requests involving her,” according to the order. The Court Information Systems Division is also involved in AOC’s responses to FOIA requests.

Baker returned to AOC’s administrative suite Dec. 5 and tried to order one of the employees she approached the previous day to let her into Sullivan’s locked office. The employee “was visibly shaken and appeared to feel humiliated by Justice Baker’s actions toward her,” the report states.

Upon learning another employee had been instructed not to unlock Sullivan’s office, Baker said “things would be changing come January.”

Disputes over JDDC

On Jan. 8, Baker issued an opinion declaring invalid her colleagues’ orders blocking her attempted AOC firings and JDDC appointments. The other justices, with the exception of Hudson, issued a statement saying Baker’s “later-filed dissent” from their two orders “has no legal effect beyond that of a dissenting opinion.”

Arkansas Supreme Court justices spar with chief justice over her authority in rare public meeting

Baker spent more than an hour fielding questions from the other justices about her behavior in the Jan. 23 Supreme Court business meeting, the same day she filed the civil appeal against Sullivan.

Associate Justice Shawn Womack said at the meeting that the court attempted to make new appointments to JDDC late last year, but the effort was delayed, including by Baker.

Womack asked Baker if she “intentionally” tried to “get control of the commission that was investigating” her as soon as she became chief justice. Baker said she was not the only justice under investigation and did not respond further to the question.

Circuit Judge H.G. Foster of Conway, the judge who swore in Baker as chief justice at midnight on Jan. 1, was one of the three blocked JDDC appointees. Before 12:30 a.m., Baker drew up the appointment orders for Foster and two other judges, one of whom had just retired from the bench. JDDC members are required to be sitting judges.

The human resources report specifies that Baker “indicated an intention to retaliate” against court employees based on whether they were cooperating with a JDDC “investigation into her colleague’s conduct.”

Five justices referred Hudson to the disciplinary panel in September 2024 for “flagrant breaches of confidentiality” after she filed former Chief Justice John Dan Kemp’s emails into evidence in her attempt to block the release of emails between her, Hatfield and others in response to a FOIA request from Arkansas Business. Kemp, Baker’s predecessor, did not run for reelection last year.

Baker wrote in her dissent that the majority had “a fundamental misunderstanding” of the FOIA and had damaged the Supreme Court’s credibility. She made transparency a focus of her successful runoff campaign against Wood.

The JDDC gave notice last week that it will hold a special meeting Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Arkansas Supreme Court refers one of its own for disciplinary investigation

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post Arkansas Supreme Court chief justice harassed court staff, per HR report filed in ongoing litigation appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com

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News from the South - Arkansas News Feed

Idaho is losing OB-GYNs. Doctors who remain are trying to shoulder the extra burdens.

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2 days ago

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August 13, 2025

By

arkansasadvocate.com – Kelcie Moseley-Morris – 2025-08-13 17:09:00


Following Idaho’s near-total abortion ban, 114 OB-GYNs have left or ceased practicing obstetrics between August 2022 and December 2024, a 43% reduction of the state’s 268 practitioners. Dr. Harmony Schroeder and others departed due to legal risks of up to five years in prison and civil penalties for abortion-related care. This exodus compounds Idaho’s longstanding physician shortage amid a growing population, increasing patient-to-provider ratios and maternity care strain. Clinics now face heavier workloads and limited patient intake. Despite recruitment efforts, Idaho’s restrictive laws deter new OB-GYNs. Local medical leaders urge recognition of the crisis’s impact on care quality and access.

by Kelcie Moseley-Morris, Arkansas Advocate
August 13, 2025

Before Dr. Harmony Schroeder left her OB-GYN practice in Idaho last year for Washington, she’d had many conversations with legislators and others about how to feel safe practicing in a state with a near-total abortion ban that includes criminal and civil liabilities for violating the law.

Schroeder wanted to stay. She’d practiced in Idaho for nearly 30 years, with a patient list of about 3,000 and a group of doctors she loved. She thought once elected officials understood that a ban would mean poorer medical care and more negative outcomes, things would improve.

Instead, they got even worse, as women were airlifted out of state during a period without protection for emergency abortion care under federal law.

Schroeder felt like she was either compromising care for women or compromising herself by risking jail time.

Providers convicted of breaking the law face up to five years in prison, revocation of their medical license and at least $20,000 in civil penalties.

“People said, ‘Oh, we would never really put you in jail,’” she said. “Sometimes it felt like the legislature was giving us a pinky swear.”

Schroeder is one of 114 OB-GYNs who left Idaho or stopped practicing obstetrics between August 2022 and December 2024, according to data from a peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Open Network, a division of the Journal of the American Medical Association. That number represents 43% of the 268 physicians practicing obstetrics statewide, a higher figure than previous reports indicated.

The study showed 20 new OB-GYNs moved to Idaho during that same period, for a net loss of 94 physicians.

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It’s not the only state with a ban experiencing shifts in numbers of obstetrics providers, but it is one of the most acute. Physicians in Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma and other ban states have spoken to the media and researchers to say they are leaving the state or retiring from the practice because of bans, and while the numbers may not always be statistically significant, the departures are often in states that already have maternal health care shortages. 

The states with the highest percentage of maternity care deserts as of 2024 were North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska and Arkansas, according to March of Dimes. With the exceptions of North Dakota and Nebraska, every state in that list has a near-total abortion ban in place.

Out of the 55 OB-GYN physicians Idaho lost just in 2024, 23 moved out of the state, 12 retired, and 16 either shifted their practice to gynecology only or moved from a rural to urban practice site. The remaining moved elsewhere in state. All of those who moved away moved to a state that did not have abortion restrictions similar to Idaho’s.

As of 2018, four years before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that ended federally protected access to abortion, Idaho needed 20 more OB-GYNs to meet demand, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Schroeder likes her new practice in Washington, but she is still sad about the realities that forced her to leave.

“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” she said. 

Study proves ‘what we feared was happening’

Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association, said the losses feel worse because Idaho already consistently ranked at the bottom of nationwide rankings for physician-to-patient ratios even while the population has exploded in recent years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked Idaho lowest in 2019 for overall patient-to-doctor ratios, and the conservative Cicero Institute ranked it 50th in 2024. According to a report from the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare, the ratio of patients to obstetricians increased from 1 per 6,668 Idahoans to 1 for every 8,510 Idahoans between August 2022 and November 2023.

Keller said the medical association has tried hard to find solutions that would help retain physicians, including failed efforts over the past two years to add a health exception in the abortion law.

“Every time there’s been some sort of event that sustained this difficult environment or made it worse, we heard about folks leaving,” Keller said.

The study, which was led by Dr. J. Edward McEachern, is a clear demonstration of what Keller said the medical association already knew anecdotally. It’s also proof, she said, for the elected officials who have accused them of fabricating stories or data and exaggerating the situation. Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador said in June 2024 that Idaho doctors who left were doing so because they made “the vast majority of their money” from performing abortions, but he did not provide evidence for that claim. Republican Rep. Brent Crane, who is chairman of the committee where abortion-related legislation would be considered, said in April 2024 that hospital legal counsel was being disingenuous with providers about the vagueness of the law because they want to undermine and ultimately repeal it.

“This kind of dialed-in study really gives us a very clear picture of what we had feared was happening,” Keller said.

Among clinics, not everyone is in agreement about the problems. Scott Tucker, practice administrator for Women’s Health Associates in Boise, said the providers they have lost over the past three years were mostly due to other factors. Increases in clinic wait times are up across the valley because of population growth, he said, and there is a national shortage of OB-GYNs and primary care providers.

“(Idaho’s abortion ban) really hasn’t impacted us much, other than we get a lot of questions and a lot of requests for contraception counseling,” Tucker said.

He added that while it’s never easy to recruit new physicians, and the ban has created extra challenges, they’ve onboarded a new physician once every nine months for the past four years and have two candidates slated to start in 2026. Much of the interest comes from candidates in the Midwest and the East, he said, and “much of what they’re hearing is hyperbole.”

‘I don’t know if it’s fair to the public for them to never feel like this is a problem’

Dr. Becky Uranga practiced with Schroeder for 14 years at OGA, a physician-owned OB-GYN clinic in the Boise area. She watched Schroeder leave, along with another doctor at OGA who went into a different medical field and one who retired.

In June, another longtime OB-GYN announced his departure. Dr. Scott Armstrong, who had practiced in the area for 26 years, sent a letter to patients saying his last day at OGA will be on Oct. 17, when he will move back to the Midwest “to help care for my aging parents and embark on a new chapter in my life.”

Uranga said the practice will have eight practicing OB-GYNs by October — down from 12 a few years ago. And the closure of other labor and delivery units in the area, which is the most populous in the state, has increased workloads for clinics like OGA as well. Uranga’s practice provides the full spectrum of obstetrics and gynecological care for women of all ages, including surgeries and labor and delivery.

“All those people (from the closed clinics) then came to us,” Uranga said.

What used to be two or four deliveries on average in a 24-hour shift is now five to six.

“That’s a lot, and it’s a really special moment that you want to be all in, present and available for whatever could happen … and it doesn’t feel like that anymore,” she said.

When a physician leaves, especially ones that have been practicing for a long time, Uranga said it leaves a hole. Schroeder had 3,000 patients, and many of them were receiving care for menopause, which she specialized in. Uranga sought out extra training to become board certified in menopause care to fill that gap.

While they juggled the transition with fewer physicians, OGA temporarily limited new patients for certain services, including some Medicaid patients. Uranga also isn’t traveling to a rural area of Idaho anymore to provide surgeries, something she and Schroeder used to do together.

When she’s not doing clinic visits, patient calls, surgeries or deliveries, she’s helping with organizing and fundraising efforts for the reproductive rights ballot initiative that would restore abortion access in Idaho. And in between all that, she’s scheduling recruiting calls with potential physicians.

She recently had to tell a recruitment coordinator that they need to be transparent up front about Idaho’s abortion laws, because she wasted too much time talking to candidates who responded with a hard no after learning about the medical environment.

“My nurse will tell you that I am fitting people in before, during, and after (hours) all the time, which isn’t fair to my family, it’s not fair to my nurse, and I don’t know if it’s fair to the public for them to never feel like this is a problem,” Uranga said.

This story has been updated.

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.

The post Idaho is losing OB-GYNs. Doctors who remain are trying to shoulder the extra burdens. appeared first on arkansasadvocate.com


Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Left-Leaning

This content highlights the negative consequences of strict abortion bans on healthcare providers and patient care in Idaho, emphasizing the challenges faced by OB-GYNs and the resulting healthcare shortages. It presents critical perspectives on the state’s abortion restrictions and includes voices advocating for reproductive rights, which aligns with a left-leaning viewpoint that supports abortion access and critiques restrictive policies.

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Look inside the newly-renovated Greer Lingle Middle School in Rogers

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2 days ago

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August 13, 2025

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www.youtube.com – 40/29 News – 2025-08-13 03:40:36

SUMMARY: Greer Lingle Middle School in Rogers reopens after being closed for over a year due to tornado damage causing $12.7 million in repairs. Renovations include new floors, ceilings, lights, and updated hallways. Contractors are finishing final touches inside and outside the building as 680 students prepare to return. Principal Eric Sokol praised the community’s resilience and noted the academic challenges faced during the temporary relocation to Rogers New Tech. Despite delays, students had a solid year. The renovated school features a new science classroom and library, aiming to create a safe, welcoming environment. Some projects, like the performing arts center, remain underway.

Students in the Rogers School District return to class on Wednesday

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U.S. Education Secretary visits Arkansas

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3 days ago

on

August 12, 2025

By

www.youtube.com – THV11 – 2025-08-12 07:56:48

SUMMARY: U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited Arkansas as part of her nationwide tour promoting the return of education control to states. Meeting with Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders at Dunn Roberts Elementary School in Little Rock, McMahon emphasized dismantling the Department of Education to reduce federal bureaucracy and increase local decision-making. The Trump administration argues this shift will expand family choices and empower communities, while critics warn it may reduce oversight and harm vulnerable students. McMahon highlighted Louisiana’s educational improvements as a model. After Little Rock, she toured the Saline County Career and Technical campus in Benton. Full coverage will follow in evening news.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is visiting Arkansas as part of the “Returning Education to the States” 50-state tour.

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