He said he plans to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. Amendment 4 would have eliminated sales and use taxes on used goods and required voter approval for any increases in state and local taxes at regularly scheduled general elections, which occur every two years. Stilley said he plans to appeal on the ground that the court has a different standard for ballot issues originating from the General Assembly than those from voter referendum. Also, he said, he will petition both the U.S. and Arkansas Supreme Courts to stay the Arkansas court decision and allow the amendment to remain on the ballot. If the amendment remains on the ballot pending a court appeal and is passed by the voters, Stilley said it is unclear if the proposal would go into effect.
Viewpoint neutrality is a First Amendment issue related to the free speech clause.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a number of cases that a person's or organization's free speech rights cannot be discriminated against based on the content of their speech and that when a forum for speech is established, it must be view-point neutral. Leonard Strickman, a UA law professor and former dean of the law school, said the Arkansas Supreme Court is not a forum for speech and rules only on Arkansas constitutional issues. Also, the U.S. court does not rule on state constitutional issues, he said. Strickman said Amendment 4 is not a U.S. constitutional matter and that many states do not have voter referendum, which does not violate the U.S. Constitution. He said he doesn't think Stilley will be able to get the high court to agree to hear his case.