We've won the first round in the war over scheduling Mississippi's special election to replace Senator Trent Lott:
A Hinds County Circuit judge ruled today that Gov. Haley Barbour exceeded his constitutional authority by setting the special election to replace former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott for November.
DeLaughter heard about an hour of arguments Monday in the dispute between state Attorney General Jim Hood and Barbour.
Barbour had intended to schedule the special election in November, no doubt because a year of incumbency and a presidential election on the same day (which would no doubt go strongly for the Republican in Mississippi) would help his chosen, GOP Representative Senator Roger Wicker.
Mississippi law mandates that special elections be held within 90 days of a vacancy, except in years in which a statewide election occurs. The vacancy technically occurred in 2007, but after the statewide election had been held; therein lies the controversy.
For the time being, however, the courts have ruled against Barbour:
In his order, DeLaughter said the election should be held "within 90 days of the governor's Dec. 20, 2007 proclamation of writ of election...on or before March 19, 2008.
Hood cited Mississippi Code 23-15-855, which applies to U.S. senator vacancies. He and Barbour have differing interpretations of that statute.
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As this post later points out this case will likely go to The Mississippi Supreme Court that is stacked with Republicans. Many of those judges were placed there with help from the partisan Republican US Chamber of Commerce. We'll see how the law fares there, but for today we can celebrate.
Placed there? I thought we had an elected Mississippi Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteNot that this is a good thing, mind you. Introduces too many political considerations into the judicial process.
The US Chamber of Commerce makes absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that it funds Supreme Court campaigns across the country.
ReplyDeleteThere are several seats that are basically bought and paid for by the Chamber.
One would like to think we elect our justices, but when the televisions and newspapers and mailboxes are flooded with 3rd party ads, the deck is definitely stacked against honest and brilliant members of the Mississippi Bar who should really be the ones interpreting the laws.
On another note- it is no coincidence that Haley Barbour has said all along that this case will be decided at the Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteIt is very disturbing that he can keep running to the Supreme Court every time he doesn't get his way.
Beyond that, it is disrespectful to the judges in lower courts who make these decisions. They are not just making things up (as the MS Supreme Court does in fact do), but basing decisions off the law and other legal opinion.
The problem that Jim has is that he cited a court case that ruled in his favor, but was later over turned. The Hind County judge also cited it in his ruling. Weird. It was also 30 or so pages long. Now, how can a 30 page ruling be done in such a short amount of time? He knew how he was going to rule before Jim or anyone else was in his office. Its no surprise that the Hind County would rule in Jim's favor, but we'll have to see what the Supreme Court says. Either way, I think Wicker will come out on top.
ReplyDeleteIt is very disturbing that he [Barbour] can keep running to the Supreme Court every time he doesn't get his way.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Jim Hood file suit? Hood ran to the Judicial system, not Barbour. I find it disturbing that Jim Hood sues the Governor over an interpretation issue (purely political), but doesn't prosecute lawyers that admit to bribing judges. Those guys should be in Parchman, not a federal pen.
But this blog doesn't mention the Scruggs investigation and Jim Hood's obvious failure to perform his duties. Initially the blog talked about innocent until proven guilty. Fair enough, but now they are admitting to bribery. But the crickets continue to chirp....
The US Chamber of Commerce makes absolutely no attempt to hide the fact that it funds Supreme Court campaigns across the country.
And the trial lawyers made no bones about VPAC money and George Dale. I didn't care about Dale's race, but you have to admit that Scruggs buying that primary was no difference than the influence exerted by the US Chamber of Commerce.