Attorney general requests dismissal of Arkansas Abortion Amendment lawsuit

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin announces a lawsuit against Temu, an online shopping platform with Chinese ownership, on June 25, 2024. (Screenshot from livestream)

Attorney General Tim Griffin on Friday filed a motion asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Secretary of State John Thurston’s recent rejection of the proposed Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 .

Arkansans for Limited Government (AFLG), the ballot question committee supporting the proposed constitutional amendment, filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to order Thurston to count the more than 101,000 signatures the group submitted in support of the measure on July 5 .

Abortion amendment supporters ask Arkansas Supreme Court to overturn Secretary of State’s rejection

The group also asked the court to expedite the case with a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction overruling Thurston’s decision not to count the signatures.

Griffin, who is representing Thurston’s office in the case, contends the Secretary of State on July 10 “correctly rejected” a submission from AFLG because they failed to submit a sponsor statement indicating the group had provided canvassers with a handbook and explained the legal requirements for obtaining signatures.

Griffin further argues that the Supreme Court ultimately lacks jurisdiction over AFLG’s original action because the group did not comply with requirements.

AFLG argued in its complaint that they are owed “an opportunity to cure or correct any perceived deficiencies in its submission” rather than be rejected entirely, but Griffin’s motion stated the opposite.

“AFLG’s failure required outright rejection of its petition,” the motion states. “Yet even if that weren’t the case, none of AFLG’s paid signatures may be counted ‘for any purpose,’ including the initial signature count. And without them, AFLG’s petition — on its own telling — falls short of the facial number required to qualify for a cure period. So either way, AFLG’s petition falls short and further proceedings would be futile.”

Griffin requested the court deny AFLG’s relief and dismiss the case entirely.

He also claimed AFLG’s previous statement that the Secretary of State’s office bears the burden of proof in this case is incorrect.

“But where, like here, a sponsor sues and asks the court to order the Secretary [of State] to act on a rejected petition, the sponsor bears the burden and must meet the demanding standard for … ‘a clear and certain right to the relief requested,’” Griffin wrote. “AFLG cannot meet that standard.”

UPDATED: Arkansas Secretary of State rejects proposed abortion amendment

Griffin wrote that later attempts by AFLG to correct documentation were submitted too late and the group “can’t skirt that constitutional deadline.” Griffin claimed the “untimely” statement also failed to comply with state law.

In response to Griffin’s motion to dismiss, leadership with AFLG expressed confidence in its stance.

“We outlined our case very clearly in the suit filing, and we’re hopeful the court will decide in our favor given the facts,” according to a statement Friday. “We won’t let the facts be muddled by a government that weaponizes paperwork to skirt the will of the people.”

The proposed constitutional amendment

The Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 seeks additional protections for pregnant people in the state, where abortion has been illegal — except to save the pregnant person’s life  — since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

If the proposed amendment made it on the ballot in November and voters approved it, it would not allow government entities to “prohibit, penalize, delay or restrict abortion services within 18 weeks of fertilization.”

The proposal would also permit abortion services in cases of rape, incest, a fatal fetal anomaly or to “protect the pregnant female’s life or physical health,” and it would nullify any of the state’s existing “provisions of the Constitution, statutes and common law” that conflict with it.

Constitutional amendments need 90,704 signatures to qualify for the ballot. AFLG said it submitted a total of 101,525 signatures and met the qualifying minimum of 3% of voters in 53 counties.

Sponsors of proposed ballot measures can be allowed more time — the “cure period” —  to submit additional signatures if the initial submission contains valid signatures from registered voters equal to at least 75% of the overall required number of signatures and 75% of the required number from at least 50 counties.

Griffin’s motion said AFLG is not entitled to a cure period.

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