Weems v. Anderson

In Weems v. Anderson, 257 Ark. 376, 516 S.W.2d 895 (Ark. 1974), a trial court appointed a special prosecutor to aid an investigation into a prosecutor even though the relevant statute did not expressly provide for it. Id. at 898. Despite an absence of constitutional or statutory authority for the appointment, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld it, concluding that the trial court had the inherent "authority to do what justice, reason and common sense dictate[d] must be done." Id. In so holding, the court noted that other courts confronted with the same situation had consistently held that the judiciary has the inherent power to make such appointments. Id.