(John Ransom, Headline USA) Wendell Griffen, a left-wing judge in Arkansas whose activist opinions have often been overturned on appeal, struck down a series of election-integrity laws passed by the Arkansas legislature, the Epoch Times reported.
Pure evil from Arkansas Judge Wendell Griffen. This is what real hate looks like. #arpx #arleg #ARnews #Hate #bigot pic.twitter.com/hBbzJJdsDD
— State Senator Trent Garner (@Garner4Senate) February 11, 2021
A representative for State Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said her office will be appealing the decision immediately.
“The Attorney General is committed to fighting for the integrity of elections in the state of Arkansas,” spokeswoman Stephanie Sharp said in a statement, according to the Epoch Times.
Griffen, first elected to Arkansas’ appellate court in 1996, has a history of issuing controversial rulings—and making equally outlandish comments off the bench.
A filing from the plaintiff’s attorney in a 2021 lawsuit said Griffen, who is black, must recuse himself from a case involving discrimination against a white worker because the judge was “prejudiced against white Christians,” according to Arkansas Online.
The attorney pointed to a blog written by Judge Griffen that said discrimination against white people was impossible because they made the laws that made discrimination possible.
“White Christians created a racist system whereby their supremacy in the world prevents a white man from suffering discrimination and any adverse actions because he is white,” said the blog entry, according to Arkansas Online.
“It’s time for White Christian Americans to face the bitter truth people of color have known for centuries,” Griffen added. “White Christianity is not a force for truth, justice, peace or anything else we consider good.”
According to KARK, Griffen had been barred by the state Supreme Court from presiding over cases involving the death penalty after he was seen publicly demonstrating against the death penalty.
He also was involved in a lengthy dispute with an ethics panel over criticism he made regarding president George W. Bush and the Iraq war.
This year, Griffen announced that he was going to be retiring at the end of 2022
“I look forward in retirement to devoting more time and energy writing, lecturing and discoursing about social justice and public theology,” Griffen said in a statement, according to KARK.
