The Arkansas State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that lawmakers can change citizen-led ballot amendments. As Little Rock Public Radio reports, the Arkansas State Legislature will now have the power to make the changes with a two-thirds vote. Writing for the majority, Justice Cody Hiland pointed to language in the constitution allowing lawmakers to make a two-thirds change to measures.
Specifically, Justice Hiland said measures include citizens amendments. Lawmakers were previously barred from making changes to amendments already approved by voters. The court’s ruling reverses a 74-year precedent established in Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. Edgmon in 1951, in which the court ruled the state legislature could not alter amendments that were initiated by citizens.
In 2016, voters approved an amendment legalizing cannabis use for certain medical conditions. The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2016 is the 98th amendment to the state constitution. Since then, the Arkansas legislature has passed 27 laws limiting cannabis distribution. These laws ultimately prompted a lawsuit against the state by Good Day Farm in Pine Bluff and Capital City Medicinals, two marijuana companies. And on June 14, 2023, Pulaski County Judge Morgan Welch ruled those 27 laws were unconstitutional and void.
Some of those voided laws included acceptable levels of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive chemical compound of cannabis, which could be contained in marijuana edibles. Another law involved tax collection rules set by the state of Arkansas in the purchase of medicinal marijuana products, along with standards and practices of dispensaries and cultivators. That included the use of advertising of their products. These measures were included in amendments passed in the years of 2017, 2019, and 2021.
After the voiding of these laws by Judge Welch, the case wound its way through the court system, concluding with the Thursday, December 11, 2025, ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court to reverse Welch’s ruling and dismiss the case.
Some critics fear the state supreme court’s ruling has now potentially opened the door for lawmakers to repeal every citizen-led amendment ever passed in the state of Arkansas.
