← Election Series · Down-ballot coverage · Arkansas
Endorses Hiland
The race
Arkansas Supreme Court, Position 6, is uncontested: J. Cody Hiland was the sole candidate; the March 3, 2026 election was canceled and he was deemed elected to an eight-year term. Barring a write-in upset that Arkansas's cancellation already forecloses, Hiland holds the seat. Party does not appear on the ballot; alignment is inferred from documented offices and we disclose that basis.
Hiland's trail is fully public. Appointed to the court by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders in July 2023 (Position 2, filling Justice Robin Wynne's seat after his death — an appointment that created the court's first conservative majority), then appointed to a second vacancy in December 2024, and elected in 2026 to the seat his fellow appointee had held, under the same seat-swap described in our Position 3 coverage. Before the bench: twice elected prosecuting attorney for the 20th Judicial District (2010, 2014); U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas 2017–2020, nominated by President Donald Trump and unanimously confirmed; chief legal counsel for the Arkansas Department of Public Safety; senior adviser to Sanders's gubernatorial campaign, where he helped craft her "Safer, Stronger Arkansas" package; and chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas from December 2022 until he resigned the day of his appointment. Sanders's stated reason: he would "call balls and strikes, interpreting state law as it is written and leaving the legislating to the Legislature." The documented counterpoint: state Democrats charged that appointing the sitting party chairman and a former campaign aide violated the nonpartisan spirit of the court — a criticism printed here as fact of the appointment's politics, not as misconduct; no ethics file surfaced.
Pros and cons
Hiland: Credits: Prosecutor at county and federal level, unanimously confirmed U.S. Attorney, and a stated balls-and-strikes philosophy from his appointing governor. Dirt/limits: The most political résumé on this court — party chairman months before appointment is a proven fact that cuts at the appearance of nonpartisanship, and his time actually judging before election was short.
OUR CALL
Our call: endorse J. Cody Hiland. Inference basis disclosed: Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney, Republican state chairman, Sanders appointee elected on a law-as-written philosophy. A partisan past is not judicial activism; nothing in his documented record shows result-driven judging, and his law-enforcement record affirmatively fits our law-and-order standard.
Vote J. Cody Hiland.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website. Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same. --- Sources — 2026 United States judicial elections compilation (Hiland unopposed, election canceled) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_judicial_elections • Critical Report — Arkansas Supreme Court elections (Hiland career timeline) — https://criticalreport.substack.com/p/2026-ar-supreme-court-elections • Associated Press via Fox News — Sanders appoints Hiland; conservative majority; Democratic criticism — https://conservativenewsbriefing.com/news-from-foxnews/sanders-taps-arkansas-gop-chairman-ex-federal-prosecutor-for-state-supreme-court-seat/ • J. Cody Hiland biography — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Cody_Hiland AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.