LITTLE ROCK – The Democratic Party of Arkansas released the following statement after Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Cody Hiland, the Republican Party of Arkansas chair, to the State Supreme Court. 

“Arkansans should be extremely worried about Governor Sanders abusing her power to appoint judges. Americans are concerned that our courts are becoming too partisan, and the Governor justifies those fears when she appoints a former campaign employee, the current Republican Party chair, to Arkansas’s highest court. Hiland hasn’t served a single term as an appellate judge, a gap in his resume that any other governor would consider disqualifying. But this is just another day under Republican supermajority rule in Arkansas. In our state, judges are nonpartisan, but Governor Sanders learned how to govern in Washington, not Arkansas. Our people deserve better. This ridiculous appointment and her repeated attacks on judges in Arkansas confirm Governor Sanders considers only a compliant judiciary as legitimate,” said Democratic Party of Arkansas Chair Grant Tennille.