Oral arguments delayed in Fayetteville civil rights ordinance case

FILE PHOTO The city of Fayetteville logo is seen at City Hall on Feb. 14, 2017.
FILE PHOTO The city of Fayetteville logo is seen at City Hall on Feb. 14, 2017.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A new date has not yet been scheduled for the oral arguments the Arkansas Supreme Court was supposed to hear today relating to the city's civil rights ordinance.

The court ruled in February the city's ordinance extending civil protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents violates state law. Justices moved the question of whether that state law, Act 137, is constitutional back to the lower court.

Act 137 deals with uniformity in nondiscrimination laws throughout the state for the benefit of intrastate commerce. Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Berryville, and Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, sponsored the law, which the Legislature passed in February 2015.

In September 2017, Washington County Circuit Judge Doug Martin ruled the city does not have to halt enforcement of its ordinance and that Ballinger and Hester should explain their reasoning for the legislation.

Oral arguments on behalf of the state and city were scheduled for 10 a.m. today. At issue is whether Ballinger and Hester, as state legislators, are compelled to testify on their motivations for sponsoring Act 137, as well as issued related to discovery.

A motion from the state to reschedule was granted Sept. 6. However, no new date has been scheduled, according to a court clerk official.

The motion cites a pre-existing family commitment involving nonrefundable, out-of-state travel for one of the lawyers for the state as the reason to delay the arguments.

Fayetteville's ordinance allows lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents to appeal to the city if they are fired from a job or evicted because of possibly discriminatory reasons. A commission was set up to take up such cases but has reviewed none so far. Voters approved the ordinance in September 2015.

NW News on 10/04/2018

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