Justice Bob Brown To Retire From Supreme Court

Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Brown said he will retire from the  state’s high court effective January 1, 2013. 

At the time of his retirement, Justice Brown will be 71 years old and will have served for 22 years on the Supreme Court.

“I have devoted most of my professional life to public service, which I consider to be a noble calling,” Brown said.  “Twenty-two of those years will have been spent on the court, but I have also served as a deputy prosecuting attorney, legal aide to a governor, legislative assistant to a United States senator, and administrative assistant to a United States congressman."

Brown has written more than 1,220 majority opinions for the high court, including landmark decisions on U.S. term limits and the Lake View decisions on adequacy and equality of the state’s public school funding system.

Justices must forfeit their retirement benefits if they seek office past the age of 70, Brown noted in his retirement statement. He also pointed out that by the end of 2016, there will be five new justices on the Arkansas Supreme Court due to the benefit law.

“Having served on the court for twenty-two years, it will be time in my case to pass the torch to a new member who will bring fresh thought and vision to the job of supreme court justice,” Brown said. “And I look forward to exploring other options in public service, or, as the poet, John Milton, said, to exploring ‘pastures new.’”