Oklahoma’s legal climate harms economic growth, job creation

Judicial Reform

Ray Carter | September 11, 2024

Oklahoma’s legal climate harms economic growth, job creation

Ray Carter

While conservative state policies on taxes and other issues have made Oklahoma one of the nation’s fastest-growing states in recent years, the state’s legal climate remains an impediment to economic growth and job creation, based on a report by business officials.

The 2024 Oklahoma Scorecard, released by the State Chamber Research Foundation, is an annual index that evaluates Oklahoma’s competitive position compared to other states across metrics that highly impact economic growth and prosperity.

The report’s section on the state’s legal climate ranked Oklahoma 34th out of 50 states, fifth out of seven regional states, and tenth out of 14 peer states (a group that includes Colorado, Utah, Iowa, Kansas, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Nevada, Tennessee, Indiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, and Alabama).

“Oklahoma’s ranking is held back by its scores on the quality of its trial and appellate judges,” the report stated. “Oklahoma ranks 25th in Quality of Appellate Courts, 30th in Trial Judge Impartiality, and 31st in Trial Judge Competence.”

Neighboring Arkansas, which recently achieved a conservative majority on its state supreme court for the first time in memory, outranked Oklahoma by 14 spots in the State Chamber Research Foundation report, ranking 20th best nationally.

The State Chamber Research Foundation report noted questionable rulings by Oklahoma judges have harmed Oklahoma’s economic competitiveness.

“Oklahoma’s appellate courts have consistently struck down or undermined legislatively enacted tort reform, including a cap on noneconomic damages nearly a decade after it was enacted, which has fueled the state’s slide in national legal climate rankings,” the 2024 Oklahoma Scorecard stated.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs has created what may be the most comprehensive judicial review site in state history, providing information on members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. The Oklahoma Judicial Scorecard can be viewed at https://ocpathink.org/judicial-scorecard.

Ray Carter Director, Center for Independent Journalism

Ray Carter

Director, Center for Independent Journalism

Ray Carter is the director of OCPA’s Center for Independent Journalism. He has two decades of experience in journalism and communications. He previously served as senior Capitol reporter for The Journal Record, media director for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and chief editorial writer at The Oklahoman. As a reporter for The Journal Record, Carter received 12 Carl Rogan Awards in four years—including awards for investigative reporting, general news reporting, feature writing, spot news reporting, business reporting, and sports reporting. While at The Oklahoman, he was the recipient of several awards, including first place in the editorial writing category of the Associated Press/Oklahoma News Executives Carl Rogan Memorial News Excellence Competition for an editorial on the history of racism in the Oklahoma legislature.

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