LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – An order issued by the Arkansas Supreme Court on Friday afternoon upended an effort by the new chief justice to fire 10 staff members.
According to the order, incoming Chief Justice Karen Baker, who took her oath of office on Wednesday, told two court staff members on Thursday, the director and the police chief, that she was considering terminating their employment “about their responses to Freedom of Information Act requests involving her.”
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On Friday, according to the order, Baker “intercepted the Police Chief as he walked into the Justice Building and purported to fire him.”
Baker had also “prepared termination letters for at least ten (10) other employees of the Administrative Office of the Courts, including the Director, the order stated, continuing that “The Director, however, serves at the pleasure of the entire court, not the Chief Justice alone.”
The order asserts Baker was prepared to terminate the employment of the: