A Pulaski County judge said she would issue a ruling within 30 days after hearing arguments Wednesday on whether she would continue blocking laws that shift the authority to fire top prison officials from the Arkansas Board of Corrections to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The hearing on the joint motion filed by the Republican governor and the board came after the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James needed to “consider” lifting her injunction against the laws.
The measures have been the focus of a legal battle between the board and the Republican governor since 2023. Following public tensions with Sanders over adding more beds to the state’s overcrowded prisons, corrections board members moved to suspend Joe Profiri, Sanders’ handpicked corrections secretary…