Leslie Carol Rutledge (born June 9, 1976) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 21st lieutenant governor of Arkansas since 2023. A member of the Republican Party, she was previously the 56th attorney general of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023.
Rutledge served as counsel for Governor Mike Huckabee before she was elected to be Arkansas attorney general in 2014. She was reelected as attorney general in 2018, and elected lieutenant governor in the 2022 after withdrawing from gubernatorial election and endorsing Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Rutledge was the first Republican since Thomas D. W. Yonley and first woman elected attorney general for Arkansas, and is the first female lieutenant governor of Arkansas.
Early life and education Rutledge was born in Batesville, Arkansas, on June 9, 1976. She graduated from Southside High School, the University of Arkansas, and the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Early career Rutledge began her legal career as law clerk to the Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Josephine Hart, a family friend.Max Brantley, 'DNR': DHS made it clear it didn't want to rehire Leslie Rutledge when she left the state agency, Arkansas Times (September 11, 2014). Rutledge worked on Hart's successful campaigns for election as associate justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court. Before seeking office herself, Rutledge also worked for the national Republican Party, as a lawyer for the National Republican Congressional Committee and Republican National Committee.Rutledge wins Republican nomination for attorney general, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (June 10, 2014). For a time, she was also a deputy prosecuting attorney in Lonoke County.
Rutledge was hired as an attorney for the Division of Children and Family Services within the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) in October 2006, and resigned with immediate effect on December 3, 2007. A partial set of personnel records obtained by the press in 2014 under Arkansas' freedom of information law showed that Rutledge was flagged by DHS with "do not rehire" status. Rutledge said that she resigned to work for Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign, suggested the "do not hire" status was not related to any incident at work, and suggested that the notation, "My guess is that it was because I did not give a two weeks notice." In 2018, an employee of the Democratic Party of Arkansas filed a FOIA lawsuit to compel the release of Rutledge's DHS personnel file; Rutledge said the lawsuit was "dragging up decade-old fake news." The agency had initially withheld the records, but a state judge ruled that Rutledge's file must be released under the Arkansas' freedom of information law.Judge rules that DHS release documents on Leslie Rutledge's work history, KTHV (August 20, 2018). The remaining eight pages of Rutledge's personnel file were then released, reflecting that her DHS employment was terminated for "gross misconduct"; Rutledge said the notation was incorrect.Michael Buckner, Rutledge says lawsuit to obtain personnel records is 'dragging up decade-old fake news', KTHV (August 10, 2018).Andrew DeMillo, Arkansas attorney general releases records from agency work, Associated Press (August 22, 2018). Other records released in 2018 included one document evaluating Rutledge's performance as "satisfactory"; one non-disciplinary "counseling statement" critiquing her handling of a case; and a "notice of disciplinary action."
Rutledge was a lawyer for Huckabee's unsuccessful 2008 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, and campaigned for him in Iowa ahead of the caucus there.
Political career Attorney General of Arkansas 2014 election and 2018 re-election Rutledge sought the Republican nomination for Attorney General of Arkansas in the 2014 election. She faced fellow attorneys Patricia Nation and David Sterling. Rutledge finished with a plurality in the May 2014 primary but finished with less than 50 percent of the vote. She hence faced second-place finisher Sterling (the former city manager of Hope) in a runoff election. Nation endorsed Rutledge, and she defeated Sterling.
In September 2014, Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane canceled Rutledge's voter registration when he discovered that Rutledge had registered to vote in Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Rutledge protested (saying that the cancellation of her registration "was improper, invalid and illegal") but nevertheless re-registered to vote in Pulaski County.
In the November 2014 general election, Rutledge defeated Democratic Party nominee Nate Steel, a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and Libertarian Party nominee Aaron Cash, in the general election. Rutledge won 51.61% of the vote, Steel 43.21%, and Cash 5.18%.Election Results, Arkansas Secretary of State.
In 2018, Rutledge won re-election. She received 61.8% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Mike Lee (who received 35.43%) and Libertarian nominee Kerry Hicks (who received 2.77%).
LGBT laws In 2015, the state legislature passed the Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act, a law blocking local governments from passing anti-discrimination laws protecting from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Several Arkansas local governments, including Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, Hot Springs, and Texarkana, passed anti-discrimination ordinances. Rutledge defended the state's law, opposed the local governments' ordinances, and appealed a ruling by a circuit judge that the Fayetteville ordinance did not violate state law. The Arkansas Supreme Court, in decisions in 2017 and 2018, sided with Rutledge, ruling that the local anti-discrimination ordinance was void.Ashleigh Creed, Arkansas Supreme Court Strikes Down Fayetteville's Nondiscrimination Ordinance – The Door May Be Shut, But It's Not Locked, The Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service (February 20, 2019).
In February 2021, Rutledge proposed a bill that would prohibit transgender athletes from playing on girls' sports teams in K–12 schools.
Rutledge defended Arkansas House Bill 1570, a law enacted by the Arkansas Legislature in 2021 that banned gender-affirming care for minors. The law was enacted in 2021 amid an anti-transgender movement; in the subsequent court challenge, Rutledge defended the law. She was interviewed on The Problem with Jon Stewart about the law, which the federal courts blocked.
Immigration In July 2017, Rutledge joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as well as nine other Republican state attorneys general and Republican Idaho Governor Butch Otter, in threatening the Donald Trump administration that they would litigate if the president did not terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy that had been put into place by President Barack Obama.Tennessee's attorney general: I've changed my mind, DACA is good, pass the DREAM Act, Vox.com, Dara Linddara, September 1, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.Texas leads 10 states in urging Trump to end Obama-era immigration program, Texas Tribune, Julián Aguilar, June 29, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.SPLC denounces letter from 10 Attorneys General seeking "cruel and heartless" repeal of DACA, Southern Poverty Law Center, June 30, 2017. Retrieved September 2, 2017.
Rutledge was a speaker at the 2018 CPAC in Maryland; in her speech, Rutledge introduced herself as a "Christian, pro-life, gun-carrying conservative woman" and cited the Bible as a reason to limit immigration, mentioning the construction of city walls by Nehemiah referenced in the Book of Nehemiah.Jacob Kauffman, At CPAC Attorney General Leslie Rutledge Evokes Bible In Limiting Immigration, KUAR (February 23, 2018).
Gambling In June 2017, Rutledge again rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment to legalize casino gambling. She rejected the proposal by Barry Emigh of Hot Springs, writing that the proposed popular name and ballot title are "misleading and wholly deficient."
Healthcare As AG, Rutledge frequently targeted the Affordable Care Act (ACA), seeking to dismantle it through court challenges. In 2018, she joined 19 other Republican-led states in a challenge to the ACA, saying, "It's time that we remove the Affordable Care Act from the backs of the American people."Jennifer Haberkorn, Another legal cloud for Obamacare?, Politico (February 27, 2018). Rutledge, along with then-President Donald Trump, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the entire ACA, which provides health insurance coverage to about 300,000 Arkansans.Max Brantley, Trump moves to strike down entire Affordable Care Act, in tune with Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas Times (March 26, 2019). The Supreme Court rejected the states' claims in a 7–2 decision in 2021.Max Brantley, Another loss for Leslie Rutledge: U.S. Supreme Court rejects bid to strike down Obamacare, Arkansas Times (June 17, 2021).
Rutledge defended an Arkansas law that regulated pharmacy benefit managers. In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Arkansas law, ruling unanimously in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) did not preempt state laws regulating PBMs.
Abortion In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) and ruled that there is no federal constitutional right to abortion. Under an Arkansas "trigger law" enacted in 2019 (Arkansas Act 180 of 2019), abortion was effectively banned in the state, except to save the life of the mother, immediately after the ruling. Rutledge celebrated the ruling and, under the 2019 law, she signed the formal certification that Roe had been overturned, implementing the abortion ban. Rutledge said that "it is my greatest honor to officially end abortion in Arkansas."
Student debt In 2022, after President Joe Biden took executive action to forgiving a portion of student loan debt, Rutledge joined a lawsuit (Biden v. Nebraska) brought by five other Republican state attorneys general. The debt-relief program was ultimately blocked by a divided Supreme Court in 2023; Rutledge celebrated the ruling on Facebook, describing the program as "a way to erase the debt of privileged college grads."Benjamin Hardy, AG Tim Griffin celebrates Supreme Court ruling against student debt relief, Arkansas Times (June 30, 2023).
Role as Trump surrogate Rutledge was a campaign surrogate for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a speech at the Republican National Convention in July 2016, she declared "I proudly stand with Donald Trump" and blasted his opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, saying: "How can you support someone who has had an FBI investigation?"Kelly P. Kissel, Griffin, Rutledge say GOP has to show contrast from Clinton, Associated Press (July 20, 2016). At the first presidential debate between Trump and Clinton, in September 2016, Rutledge sat on a CBS News panel and stated people did not care about Trump's tax returns, leading to an extended exchange with journalist Bob Schieffer. Asked about the discussion in an Arkansas Money and Politics interview, Rutledge stated it was to be expected because the other panelists were part of the "liberal elite media." In October 2016, after the Access Hollywood tape came to light (in which Trump made lewd comments about women); Rutledge said that Trump's remarks were "offensive" but reiterated her support for his candidacy.Ken Miller, Arkansas governor, attorney general criticize Trump comments, Associated Press (October 8, 2016).
As AG, Rutledge aligned herself with Trump, including on the lawsuit seeking repeal of the Affordable Care Act.