Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Personhood Amendment opponents: Replace Waller with Banks

In a blog post today, Parents Against Personhood, came out in support of replacing Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller with Rep. Earle Banks.  The group, widely credited with defeating Initiative 26 (also known as the "Personhood" Amendment), had this to say about Waller's stance on Personhood:
In Judge Waller’s view, the “sovereign right of the people” justifies any attempt to revoke the constitutional rights of other people. Had Initiative 26 passed, as seemed nearly certain at the time of the ruling, Mississippi women and families would have seen their rights infringed, and would be unable to get judicial relief until after the violation had already occurred.
Considering how unpopular the Personhood Amendment was in the Central District, this certainly has the potential to cause Waller major problems.  Rep. Banks voted against Personhood measures in the Legislature.

2 comments:

EAB said...

Just to expand a little bit for your readers, Matt, the opinion in Hughes v Hosemann would literally permit any blatantly unconstitutional initiative to go on the ballot if its supporters could demagogue up enough signatures.

The reasoning of Judge Waller and his colleagues would permit an initiative to revoke the right to vote from women or minorities. You could launch an initiative to reinstitute segregated schools or Jim Crow. Militant anti-theist groups could move to shut down churches, or synagogues, or mosques. Gun-control advocates could put forth an initiative to prevent private individuals from owning guns.

No matter what your political philosophy, I'm pretty sure we can all think of some constitutional rights we wouldn't wish to see subjected to a popular vote. Waller, apparently, cannot.

Col. Reb Sez said...

A lot of conservatives voted against the Personhood Amendment. They aren't going to vote to dump Waller because of this vote even if they disagree with it being on the ballot.