Attorneys for Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Wendell Griffen said this morning they are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the judge’s ongoing legal dispute with the justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The petition for a writ of certiorari filed with the country’s highest court comes after Griffen’s complaints against the Arkansas Supreme Court have already been dismissed by the state’s judicial watchdog, a federal district judge in Little Rock and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
The protracted legal fight began in April 2017, when the Supreme Court ordered Griffen removed from all cases and future cases involving the death penalty.
That decision was a reaction to Griffen’s action in front of the Governor’s Mansion, where he strapped himself to a cot in protest of capital punishment, on the same day he issued a ruling that temporarily threatened the state’s plans to carry out several executions.
Griffen has argued that the justices violated his religious and free speech rights by punishing him for the protest and alleged, without evidence, that the justices engaged in out-of-court communications with the attorney general’s office while considering an appeal of Griffen’s actions.
A U.S. District Court judge, James Moody, had initially dismissed the court itself from Griffen’s federal lawsuit earlier this year, but allowed the suit to continue against each of the seven justices individually.
That decision was reversed by the 8th Circuit, which tossed the case.
“In addition to terminating the case, this ruling obviously prevented Judge Griffen from engaging in the discovery process, which we believe would have added significant support to his case and which the Justices fiercely opposed,” said a news release from Griffen’s attorneys.
Chief Justice Dan Kemp could not be reached for comment Friday morning.
A separate complaint that led to charges of wrongdoing by the justices was dismissed by the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission earlier this month. The commission is still reviewing Griffen’s actions at the anti-death penalty protest.