Cox v. Daniels
Arkansas Supreme Court
288 S.W.3d 591 (2008)
- Written by Abby Roughton, JD
Facts
Historically, the Arkansas Constitution had prohibited lotteries. In 2007, individuals affiliated with HOPE for Arkansas (the sponsors) sponsored a constitutional amendment that would allow the establishment and operation of a state lottery. The proposed amendment did not define “state lottery,” but it called for lottery proceeds to be used to provide scholarships and grants for Arkansas citizens enrolled in two-year and four-year colleges in the state. The sponsors wanted the proposed amendment to appear as a ballot initiative in the November 2008 general election. The Arkansas attorney general approved the initiative’s ballot title, which essentially mirrored the text of the proposed amendment itself. The sponsors gathered enough signatures to place the initiative on the ballot, and Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels (defendant) certified the initiative for placement on the ballot for the 2008 election. In September 2008, Jerry Cox and the Family Council Action Committee (collectively, Cox) (plaintiffs) filed a petition in the Arkansas Supreme Court, seeking a declaration that the ballot title was insufficient and an injunction prohibiting Daniels from placing the initiative on the ballot. Cox asserted that the ballot title (1) did not indicate that the proposed amendment would repeal the existing constitutional provision prohibiting lotteries, (2) did not define “state lottery” and thus did not disclose that a broad range of chance-based games might be permitted by the amendment, and (3) did not inform voters about the amendment’s potential impact on the future constitutionality of casino gaming, which Cox believed to be a possibility because the ballot title did not explicitly prohibit casino gaming.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Imber, J.)
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