Voters in the March 3 primaries will select the next Arkansas Supreme Court Justice, Position 3. Let’s meet the candidates, Justice Nick Bronni and attorney John Adams.

Bronni was appointed to the court by Gov. Sarah Sanders in December 2024 to fill a vacancy in another position. He is running for a full term at Position 3. 

That experience is one reason voters should elect him, he said.

“I’ve been on the Arkansas Supreme Court now for more than a year, and I’ve decided cases on pretty much every topic imaginable,” he said. “Everything from family law, to criminal law, to property law, to constitutional law. And that means I don’t require any on-the-job training.”

Bronni previously served as the state’s solicitor general under both Attorneys General Leslie Rutledge and Tim Griffin. That position handles appeals and high profile national litigation. 

Bronni won two cases before U.S. Supreme Court

He twice won unanimous decisions representing Arkansas before the U.S. Supreme Court. One case defended a state law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, which reimburse pharmacists for dispensing drugs. Another involved more than 30 states suing Delaware for taking custody of unclaimed checks sold by a money transfer services company. 

As a justice, Bronni said he tries to write in common English to make it easier for everyone to understand, including lower courts.

He described himself as an “originalist” who interprets the Constitution based on what the writers intended. The U.S. Supreme Court justice he most admires is Justice Clarence Thomas, another originalist.

“I don’t legislate from the bench, and I don’t reach decisions based upon my own personal policy preferences,” he said. “Policy is for the Legislature and it’s for the governor, not for judges.”

Bronni, a married father of two, said he grew up in Camden, worked his way through college and law school, and paid back what he borrowed. 

In addition to his appointment by Gov. Sanders, he has been endorsed by the Republican Party of Arkansas. He said he is supported by Arkansans from across the political spectrum. 

Adams says his philosophy “fidelity to the law”

Adams, meanwhile, is an attorney at the Fuqua Campbell law firm. He served from 2009-11 as assistant attorney general under then-Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. He has been an adjunct law professor, appellate attorney, bank attorney and commercial litigator. 

A married father of three, he described his judicial philosophy as “fidelity to the law.” He pointed to the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, who said in his Senate confirmation hearing that justices, like baseball umpires, merely “call balls and strikes.”

He said while many cases correct lower court errors and are decided 7-0, “There are some areas of law, though, that really require application of judicial philosophy and require a sense for the context in which the law exists, and a certain humility, really, about the limits of that role. So my philosophy is one of avoiding commitment to any abstract theory, but simply just being faithful to the law that the people of Arkansas create.”

Adams expressed admiration for three deceased U.S. Supreme Court justices: civil rights pioneer Thurgood Marshall; Sandra Day O’Connor, a President Reagan appointee who came to the court with practical legislative experience; and Robert Jackson from the 1940s-50s.

This is Adams’ third political race. He previously ran for Congress in 2010 and for the state Legislature in 2014, both times as a Democrat.

Asked about those races, he said, “It’s true that I took public policy positions and donated to candidates in the past. But the key now is that I want – and think most Arkansans want – a judge that’ll interpret the law fairly and without regard to the politics of the parties in the case.”

The Arkansas Constitution gives the Supreme Court the authority to set rules for other courts. What changes might the candidates like to see in the judicial system?

Bronni said simplifying the electronic filing system would make it more accessible. More model forms should be available on every subject so people representing themselves know what language to use when filing a lawsuit. He’d like to see more rural attorneys. A student loan debt forgiveness program for attorneys serving in those areas might help.

Adams said doing pro bono work for lower income Arkansans has shown him that some are struggling to pay their court debts for minor violations.

“A lot of what I want to bring to the court is that sense of service to the people of Arkansas, and the ability to serve a term with an eye towards those kind of folks that really need the legal system to be the foundation of our ordered liberty, and not something else that is going to drag them under,” he said.

Those are your Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Position 3 candidates. Early voting starts Feb. 16.

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 21 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.