Griffen sets plans for courtroom exit
Outspoken jurist retiring at end of ’22
Wendell Griffen, the outspoken jurist renowned for his battles with the Arkansas Supreme Court, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and judicial regulators, announced Monday that he will retire as Pulaski County circuit judge when his second term expires at the end of next year.
“I enjoy my work as a trial judge with a wonderful staff, fellow judges, and with the lawyers who appear in our court,” Griffen said in a statement announcing his intentions. “And I enjoy presiding over a courtroom where all persons are treated with dignity, fairness, compassion and integrity.”
Griffen, 68, stated his retirement plans are to devote more time and energy to writing, lecturing and “discoursing about social justice and public theology.”
An ordained minister since 1988, the judge is pastor of New Millennium Church in Little Rock, which he founded in 2009. He operates a consulting firm, shares his thoughts and opinions through Twitter and a blog, and has co-hosted a weekly radio show about current events.
Griffen’s public-service career includes two years as chairman of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission by appointment of then-Gov. Bill Clinton. He was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army after graduating from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville and was the first Black partner at Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP, one of Little Rock’s oldest and largest firms.
Attorney Dominique King, president of the W. Harold Flowers Law Society, a professional association for Black lawyers, said Griffen will be remembered for holding lawyers in his court to the highest standards and for his dedication for doing what he though was right under the law, even in the face of public criticism.
“During his tenure on the bench he has expected nothing short of excellence from lawyers who have appeared before him, and he has stressed the importance of upholding our oath with regard to endeavoring always ‘to advance the cause of justice and to defend and to keep inviolate the rights of all persons whose trust is conferred upon [us] as an attorney at law,’” King said. “Judge Griffen will likely be remembered for doing what he felt was needed to advance the cause for justice, despite the popular opinion. For many, the fear of being hated is often a hindrance to being committed to their calling or purpose in the law or otherwise, but for Judge Griffen, it was just part of the job — a job well done.”
Little Rock businessman and lawyer Graham Catlett, a top supporter, praised Griffen as an inspiration.
“Every day Wendell Griffen demonstrates his passion for justice as a judge, Minister and Community Leader,” Catlett said in an email. “He teaches me how important it is to speak the truth passionately and prophetically in order to improve our society legally, ethically and socially.”
Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley could not be reached for comment, but in recent court filings stated that “this office has complete faith in the fairness of Judge Griffen when on the bench. This office has never seen Judge Griffen allow his personal opinions to taint his rulings from the bench.”
Rutledge, who once asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to bar Griffen from ever presiding over any of her cases because he could not be fair to her, offered warm wishes Monday when asked for comment about Griffen’s plans.
“I wish Judge Griffen the best in his future retirement,” the Republican gubernatorial candidate said in a statement released by her office.
Griffen’s announcement gives potential successors at least three months to decide whether to vie for the post in the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Perry and Pulaski Counties. Candidates cannot formally announce until a year before the judicial elections, which will be in May 2022, although specific dates have not been set.
Griffen holds one of five Pulaski County Circuit judgeships, out of 17 total, established in 1992 to settle a Voting Rights Act lawsuit that alleged Black residents had been denied equitable representation in the judiciary.
Known as the Hunt decree for lead plaintiff Eugene Hunt, the court order created Black-dominated voting precincts in 21 counties and 11 Black judgeships. In the Sixth Circuit, those judges are elected solely by voters who live in the southwestern third of Pulaski County.
Two Hunt Decree judges were elected last year, Tjuana Byrd and Shanice Johnson. Two more, Leon Johnson and Alice Gray, will be up for re-election next year, although they are not expected to draw any competition.
Griffen could have been elected to one more term before turning 70. Circuit judges who are elected after turning 70 must forfeit their retirement benefits.
By the end of 2022, Griffen will have spent 24 years as a judge. He took office in 2011, making 2021 his 10th year as a circuit judge. Griffen spent 12 years as a Court of Appeals judge. He and Olly Neal were the first two Black lawyers on the appeals court when when they were appointed by thenGov. Jim Guy Tucker in 1996. He was re-elected without opposition in 2000 but lost to Rita Gruber, a Pulaski County Circuit judge, in 2008.
In his retirement announcement, Griffen expressed his gratitude to Tucker, the voters who elected him and his supporters, particularly his wife, sons and staff.
As an appeals judge in 2006, Griffen’s outspokenness on a variety of topics put him on a collision course with the judicial discipline commission when its ethics claimed that by espousing his position on different subjects he could be in violation of his duty as a judge to appear fair and impartial.
Over the course of a year between 2005 and 2006, Griffen had denounced the Bush Administration’s Hurricane Katrina response as racist, criticized the nomination of John Roberts for chief justice of the federal Supreme Court, endorsed a state referendum to raise the minimum wage, spoke out against the Iraq war and condemned attacks on gays and immigrants.
His conflict with judicial discipline included his own lawsuit against the commission, although it was dismissed. But he ultimately won in September 2007 when the commissioners dropped efforts to censure him, acknowledging that Griffen was engaging in the legal and protected exercise of his right to free speech, citing precedents by both the state and federal Supreme Courts.
The commission further stated the canons of the Arkansas Rules of Judicial Conduct do not bar a judge from speaking out, and that the commission does not have the authority to punish a judge who does so.
“There is no Arkansas Canon that expressly prohibits a judge or judicial candidate from publicly discussing disputed political or legal issues,” the commission stated at the time. “The Canons cited … cannot be used as a basis for a finding of judicial misconduct if the alleged misconduct is solely related to a public discussion of disputed political or legal issues.”
Griffen next came into conflict with judicial regulators in April 2017 when the state Supreme Court barred him from hearing any case involving the death penalty.
The high court acted after Griffen’s participation in a prayer vigil with members of his church congregation during demonstrations at the Governor’s Mansion protesting Arkansas’ plans to resume executions after a 12-year hiatus.
Almost simultaneously with his appearance on the mansion grounds, Griffen temporarily blocked prison officials from using one of the three drugs used to put prisoners to death.
Griffen had acted at the request of the seller, a company that claimed it had been duped into providing the chemical. His order barred the use of the drug until a hearing could be held on the company’s accusations in four days, which could have delayed the executions.
But the Supreme Court dissolved the order before any delay on an appeal by the attorney general. With some members of the Legislature suggesting Griffen should be impeached, the justices issued their prohibition on Griffen hearing any case, civil or criminal, involving the death penalty, which triggered an ethics investigation of Griffen by the judicial discipline commission.
Protesting that the high court never explained why it sanctioned him or gave him an opportunity to defend himself, Griffen responded first by bringing his own ethics complaints about the justices to the commission and then sued the justices in federal court.
Commissioners brought in outside investigators to handle the dueling complaints, which resulted in ethics charges that the commission eventually dismissed. Griffen’s lawsuit also was dismissed.
Most recently, a bid by Griffen to preside over capital-murder cases, even ones that don’t involve the death penalty, was rejected by the high court in January after the attorney general protested. In a 5-2 decision, the court ruled that Griffen is prohibited from non-execution capital-murder cases as well.