Debates are still raging, and legal experts are still weighing the potential consequences of a recent ruling by the Arkansas State Supreme Court. The state’s High Court overturned 74 years of legal precedent when they voted unanimously to allow state lawmakers to alter or even eliminate citizen-led constitutional amendments. But that can only be achieve in both chambers of the state legislature with a two-thirds majority vote, also known as a supermajority.
Dean Emeritus John DiPippa of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock Bowen Law School spoke about the ruling on “Talk Business & Politics,” which aired Sunday, December 21, 2025. DiPippa told host Roby Brock that he expects what some refer to as the so-called “doomsday scenario” to play out, as lawmakers undue amendments they simply don’t like. “And even with the case at issue, the marijuana case, the legislature passed I think 25 different amendments.
And so yes, I think the legislatures [sic] will now feel like they have the power. They’re going to use it. On the other hand, the case itself included in the amendment a provision that said the legislatures [sic] can exercise their power to amend, but only if the amendments are germane to the purpose of the amendment.” DiPippa reminds the public that the legal precedent set 74-years ago had actually blocked the authority that the legislature originally had - and will now have again - to alter citizen-led amendments with a super-majority.
