Arkansas Supreme Court upholds wording of ballot measure to revoke casino license
Cherokee Nation Entertainment and the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee filed a lawsuit to challenge the measure, but were rejected by the Supreme Court.
Key Points
- In a 6-1 ruling, Justices rejected a lawsuit that claimed the proposed constitutional amendment was “riddled with errors”
- The proposed amendment would revoke the license granted for a Pope County casino
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in favor of upholding the wording of a ballot measure that would revoke a planned casino license after a state panel granted Cherokee Nation Entertainment permission to build a casino in Pope County. On October 17, in a 6-1 ruling, Justices rejected a lawsuit that claimed the proposed constitutional amendment was “riddled with errors.”
In a separate case, Cherokee Nation Entertainment and an affiliated group, the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee, filed a lawsuit challenging the measure. The court rejected the first part of the lawsuit on October 14 that claimed the group behind the measure violated several signature gathering laws.
In the majority opinion, Justice Karen Baker detailed the court’s ruling, having written, “In sum, we hold that the popular name and ballot title are an intelligible, honest and impartial means of presenting the proposed amendment to the people for their consideration.
“We hold that it is an adequate and fair representation without misleading tendencies or partisan coloring.”
The proposed amendment would revoke the license granted for a Pope County casino that has been stalled by legal challenges for several years.
Good to know: Pope County was one of four sites approved for a casino in 2018, with the other three locations already having properties built
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has spent more than $8.8m on the campaign in favor of the proposed amendment, while Cherokee Nation Businesses has spent $11.6m campaigning against the measure.
In the dissenting opinion, Justice Shawn Womack described the ballot measure as “plainly misleading” due to confusion surrounding whether the proposal would revoke Pope County’s existing license.
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