Arkansas Supreme Court justice files lawsuit against group over attack ads – By John Moritz (arkansasonline.com) / Oct 25 2018
Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Courtney Goodson filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Republican State Leadership Committee for airing and distributing what her attorneys say are defamatory ads during the justice’s re-election campaign.
It is the second lawsuit the justice has filed against groups that have attempted to depict Goodson as an “insider.” The ads point to expensive foreign trips she took with campaign donors and a recent pay raise that she and other Supreme Court justices received.
Goodson has pushed back, asserting that she has recused from all cases involving her donors and that the raises were requested by the court as a whole, not her. Her attorneys called the attacks “false by omission.”
Goodson’s lawsuit seeks to stop the committee from airing its attack ads against her on local television stations and from spreading the attacks in mailers that have appeared in some voters’ mailboxes.
David James, a spokesman for the committee, said late Thursday that the group had not been served with Goodson’s complaint, though he added in a statement that “truth is an absolute defense.” The Republican State Leadership Committee is based in Washington, D.C.
In the spring, Goodson filed lawsuits against several local television stations that had been airing similar ads purchased by another Washington group, the Judicial Crisis Network. The suits were partially successful, as a judge ordered the ads taken off the air in Pulaski County, while another judge allowed the ads to continue running in Northwest Arkansas.
Thursday’s lawsuit was different, in that it was filed against the purchasers of the ads, not the media companies airing them.
“We’re going to cut off the snake’s head,” said Goodson’s attorney, Lauren Hoover.
Goodson is running for re-election against David Sterling, an attorney at the Department of Human Services. The race is nonpartisan. Sterling has denied any involvement in the ads attacking his opponent.
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2018/oct/25/arkansas-supreme-court-justice-files-lawsuit-again/
