The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas announced last week it has hired a new legal director: Little Rock attorney and Arkansas Times alum John C. Williams.
Williams, 40, comes to the ACLU of Arkansas from the federal public defender’s office for the Eastern District of Arkansas, where he accumulated eight years of expertise in post-conviction death penalty proceedings. In 2017, when the state embarked on its mad dash to execute eight men within 10 days under then-Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Williams was among the federal attorneys working on the front lines to slow down the train and push for due process. He’s served as chief of the office’s capital habeas unit and first assistant federal public defender, among other roles.
Before receiving his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, Williams worked as a political reporter for the Arkansas Times from 2007 to 2008, back during our weekly newsprint days.
Williams will have his work cut out for him at the ACLU of Arkansas, which is involved in at least three local cases of national importance.
ACLU attorneys are leading the challenge to Arkansas’s first-of-its-kind law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender patients under 18. Since Arkansas passed its ban in 2021, many other states have followed suit — followed by other court challenges — but the Arkansas case is the furthest along in the appeals process. Though the law was struck down earlier this year by a federal judge in Little Rock, the case is now on appeal to the 8th Circuit and seems likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ACLU is also representing plaintiffs in a momentous case before the 8th Circuit concerning the federal Voting Rights Act. A federal judge in Little Rock ruled last year that the groups suing over the fairness of the state’s legislative district maps had no right to bring a lawsuit at all — only the federal government can enforce the Voting Rights Act, the judge said. A divided three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit recently agreed, and the ACLU is now weighing whether to ask the full, 11-judge court to weigh in on the case or directly petition the Supreme Court for review.
Then there’s the ACLU’s challenge to the new state law that would impose criminal penalties on librarians and booksellers who provide allegedly inappropriate materials to minors. A federal judge in Fayetteville blocked that law from taking effect this summer, but it awaits a full hearing next year.
Williams said he remains deeply interested in death penalty issues, but after eight years at the federal public defender’s office, he was ready to move on.
“I’ve been working on capital cases, which are important and engaging, but that’s pretty much all I was doing,” he said in an interview. “So, to be able to expand what I’m working on and go into a broader range of civil rights issues is the main attraction of the job for me. I’m very excited about it.”
ACLU of Arkansas Director Holly Dickson said in a statement that Williams’ professional background and passion for civil liberties “make him the ideal person to lead our legal program.
“His appointment comes at a crucial time when our civil liberties face constant challenges in Arkansas. I am confident that under John’s leadership, our legal advocacy will continue to thrive and make a significant impact,” Dickson said.