New video: Personhood opponents come out swinging against Waller

Pretty powerful stuff here in the Central District Mississippi Supreme Court race.  Waller's on the wrong side of Personhood.

Banks campaign: Parties in 52 cases currently before MS Supreme Court have given money to Chief Justice, and Chief Justice knows who they are

In a very lengthy press release today, the Earle Banks for Mississippi Supreme Court campaign has unloaded a mountain of evidence connecting political campaign contributions to Banks' opponent, Chief Justice Bill Waller, and 52 cases currently pending before Waller's Supreme Court.  Here's the full press release:

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.

Trash PAC Law Enforcement Alliance of America behind most misleading ads of 2008 judicial election cycle, and they're back

Some of you may remember the 2008 Southern District Supreme Court race between then-Justice Oliver Diaz and then-Chancery Judge Randy "Bubba" Pierce.  Late in the race, an ad appeared that accused Justice Diaz of voting "for" baby rapers and other assorted awful characters.  The ad was paid for by the Law Enforcement Alliance of America PAC.

Well, that PAC just bought $356,000.00 worth of north Mississippi TV time to run ads against Flip Phillips before next month's elections.

The local media roundly condemned the 2008 LEAA ad, and FactCheck.org picked it apart mercilessly.  The Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention, formed by the Mississippi Supreme Court, even sent a letter to Judge Pierce demanding that he advise them whether he was responsible for the ad, and if not, to ask LEAA to cease and desist.

Knowing what we now know about the LEAA and their tactics, the Mississippi Supreme Court's Special Committee on Judicial Election Campaign Intervention should be proactive in preserving the integrity of our Supreme Court elections.  They should immediately demand to know the extent of the Josiah Coleman campaign's involvement in the coming ads.  Waiting until the Mississippi electorate is again subjected to the handiwork of widely-criticized hatchet men would bring to mind an old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice...."

***BREAKING - Strongly-criticized "stealth" PAC buys $356,000.00 worth of ads against Flip Phillips***

The stealth PAC "Law Enforcement Alliance of America" has just purchased $356,000 worth of television advertising time in the Northern District Supreme Court race to use against Batesville attorney Flip Phillips.  This is the same group criticized by both the Hattiesburg American and the Clarion-Ledger in the 2008 judicial election cycle.  More to come...

Jack Dunbar comes out in support of Flip Phillips for Supreme Court

Here's the text of an email from highly-respected Mississippi attorney Jack Dunbar, weighing in on the Northern District Supreme Court race:


Friends: 

     We have an important election on November 6th to fill a vacancy on our State Supreme Court. I ask you to consider the candidacy of Richard "Flip" Phillips for the following reasons:

     1) A seat on the Court should not be filled by someone who is there for "on the job training." There may be no other profession where experience is so important. Flip is 65 years old and has practiced for 40 years, at all levels of our judicial system. He has been lead counsel and argued many cases on appeal before the Supreme Court , and tried even more cases. His opponent has never been lead, or head counsel in any case in any Court. (See article on the candidates in the Tupelo paper, Oct 22, 2012.)

     2) Flip has written definitive text books on legal issues used as reference sources by lawyers and judges. He has often shared his experience and knowledge with lawyers and judges as a panelist
at legal seminars. He is highly regarded in the profession. 

     3) He has been professionally successful and does not need the job for the salary. He has stated a self imposed term limit; that is, he will serve for one eight year term if elected, to cap off his legal career and in my judgment give something back to the profession which respects him. 

     4) His opposition has cast him as a "plaintiff's" lawyer, as if there were something wrong with representing anyone with a meritorious claim. 

     Flip has been primarily a lawyer who tried cases for claimants, but also for defendants. In my career, I was most often on the other side of the table from Flip. I have been primarily a civil defense lawyer, representing doctors, hospitals, manufacturers of products, and corporate interests. I have tried many cases against Flip. I won the cases I should have, and so did he, but never did I feel he took a "frivolous" case or one without merit. He always played it straight, and by the rules. There are many other "defense" lawyers like me, supporting his candidacy because we all agree that he is a lawyer of integrity who will "call it like it is" as a judge on our Supreme Court. 

     I urge you to discuss his candidacy with your own lawyer, or lawyer friends. I believe they will share my views. I hope you will give Flip your vote and support, because it is in the interest
of all of us to have experienced, competent and fair judges, in a respected judicial system. 

Jack F. Dunbar

Banks campaign responds to Waller's attempts to take credit for drug courts and e-filing

Here's the text of a press release issued by the Earle Banks for Supreme Court campaign today:

WALLER OVERSTATES DRUG COURT AND E-FILING CREDIT

In response to a new campaign TV ad by Chief Justice Bill Waller, Jr.’s campaign, touting Waller’s leading role in promoting drug courts and statewide “e-filing,” the Earle Banks campaign responds as follows:

“Justice Waller only witnessed success with drug courts after the heroic legislative efforts of Representative Alyce Clark (D-Jackson) to create and fund them.  And it was the state legislature, including Rep. Earle Banks, who voted to fund drugs courts, just as he helped to create the Court of Appeals in Mississippi,” said Banks campaign spokesperson Tanya Patterson. 

“Waller’s claim to success with electronic filing, or “e-filing,” a system modeled after the feds that would allow lawyers to file court documents by computer, is absurd.  Only four or five out of eighty-two counties have e-filing.  Even the three largest courthouses in this district, Hinds, Rankin and Lauderdale, cannot afford e-filing.  The smaller counties in poor and rural areas will likely never see electronic filing in their courthouses.  In fact, you cannot even file appeal briefs in Waller’s Supreme Court electronically,” says Patterson.

Banks press release: Waller Admits Campaign Finance Improprieties

From the Earle Banks for Supreme Court campaign: Earle Banks Press Release 10-6-12

Flip Phillips releases video ad

Here's Flip Phillips' new video ad:

Chief Justice Bill Waller admits to looking over list of donors; creates huge ethical dilemma

This is potentially an enormous development in the Central District Mississippi Supreme Court race. WJTV interviewed Chief Justice Bill Waller for a story yesterday, and during the course of the interview Chief Justice Waller admitted to looking over the host list for a fundraiser held for him at the Eastover home of Robert Lampton.  Waller also admits that he should not have looked at it.   The invitation containing the host list can be found here, and the video of the WJTV story may be found here.

I'll let the official commentary to Section 5C(2) of the Code of Judicial Conduct do the explaining:

There is legitimate concern about a judge's impartiality when parties whose interests may come before a judge, or the lawyers who represent such parties, are known to have made contributions to the election campaigns of judicial candidates. Section 5C(2) recognizes that in many jurisdictions judicial candidates must raise funds to support their candidacies for election to judicial office. It therefore permits a candidate, other than a candidate for appointment, to establish campaign committees to solicit and accept public support and financial contributions. Though not prohibited, campaign contributions of which a judge has knowledge, made by lawyers or others who appear before the judge, may, by virtue of their size or source, raise questions about a judge's impartiality and be cause for disqualification as provided under Section 3E.

Here's Waller's problem in a nutshell:  By admittedly looking at the host list, he subjects himself to "legitimate concern" every time someone from that host list has an interest in a case before the Mississippi Supreme Court.  The problem is magnified by the inclusion of PACs on that host list.  PACs, by their nature, are collections of people who share an interest.  Since Waller has decided to accept PAC money, he has expanded the list of "parties" as defined in the above commentary to an almost incalculable number.

Take for instance the fact that the Mississippi Medical PAC appeared as a host on the fundraiser, and that Waller now admittedly knows that group supported financially him in this election.  Mississippi Medical PAC is the political action committee for the Mississippi Medical Association, which counts several thousand Mississippi doctors as its members.  That means that whenever a medical malpractice case goes before the Mississippi Supreme Court, there will be "legitimate concern" about Waller's impartiality should Waller defeat Banks.

This problem can easily be avoided in two ways: 1) Candidates for judicial office shouldn't look at their donors lists. That's why candidates for judicial office go to such great lengths to create fundraising committees that are independent of the candidate's campaign. 2) Judicial fundraising committees should never accept PAC money.  Doing so means that a judge who does see his donor list is open to questions about his impartiality every time a certain type of case, rather than a certain party, comes before the court.

Waller has gone wrong on both accounts, and now calls into "legitimate concern" his judgment in every case that comes before him that can affect nearly every industry in the state, from healthcare to manufacturing to trucking to real estate.  This is awful, and I don't know of any way Waller can fix it.

Waller sidles up to big business, Banks refuses to, campaign picks up

Yesterday at the Stennis Institute/Capitol Press Corps forum, the candidates for the Central District Supreme Court spot squared off over campaign finance.  The issue arose because sitting Chief Justice Bill Waller has been taking money from political action committees (PACs), while his challenger, Rep. Earle Banks, has not.

Banks' response to Waller's acceptance of PAC money is was powerful, especially considering how former Chief Justice Jim Smith lost his seat (in the very same Central District) 4 years ago:

“With no disrespect, there’s a lot of PAC money been going around,” Banks said. “And it’s not for Earle Banks. And that’s fine. Because Earle Banks is going to be the candidate for the people of Mississippi … blue-collar workers, to everybody whether you’re in the ivory tower or whether you’re the man on the street, whether construction or whatever. I will be fair in hearing your case before this court.”

The conventional wisdom is that former Chief Justice Jim Smith lost his seat due in large part to a perception that the Mississippi Supreme Court had been bought and paid for by big business, and wasn't being fair to average Mississippians.  The fundraiser invitation linked below is going to add fuel to the idea that Waller is a sock puppet for corporations and the wealthy, not the average Mississippian.

Follow the jump to see the Waller fundraiser invitation at issue.

Phillips vs. Coleman - Analysis of the Northern District Supreme Court race

In the first part of a series of articles intended to educate voters on the appellate judges races in November, I present the following analysis of the Northern District race between Richard “Flip” Phillips and Josiah Coleman.  This article includes original research as well as the response to a media inquiry to the candidates focused exclusively on legal experience.  The analysis below will roughly follow the five inquiries posed to the candidates.  It should be noted that Mr. Coleman failed to respond to repeated email requests for answers.  This article is quite long for a blog post, so click below to read it.

Link to the Learmonth "caps" no-decision decision

As promised, here's a link to the Mississippi Supreme Court's opinion in Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Lisa Learmonth:   http://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/CO79081.pdf.

Justice Jess Dickinson had several great quotes in the hand down list today.  From Learmonth:  

It is true that what I call a fact is solely supported by circumstantial evidence. But this Court seems to be untroubled when circumstantial evidence rises to the level of “beyond a reasonable doubt” – even in death-penalty cases. So it seems odd that anyone would be troubled by applying circumstantial evidence to the question presented here.

And then from Cecil Ben v. State of Mississippi, a criminal case in which Mr. Ben was convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison:

If there is any consistency in this Court’s speedy-trial precedent, it is not in why defendants lose; it is in the historical certainty that – for one reason or another – the defendants will lose.

Can't argue with the man there. He goes on:

I have no doubt that, should a defendant come along who indisputably wins all four Barker factors, this Court will feel compelled to improve on Barker and come up with a fifth factor.

Suffice it to say Justice Dickinson was not pleased with those two majority opinions today.

BREAKING: MS SUPREME COURT DUCKS CONSTITUTIONALITY OF DAMAGES CAPS

The Learmonth decision is out, in which the Mississippi Supreme Court was asked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to determine whether or not statutory caps on damages are constitutional.

In an 8-1 decision written by Justice Mike Randolph, the Mississippi Supreme Court declined to answer the question, leaving the caps in place and drawing a stinging rebuke from Justice Jess Dickinson in his dissent. I'll link it when I can.

Justice Mike Randolph racking up the endorsements from trial lawyers

Justice Mike Randolph is up for reelection to the Mississippi Supreme Court this year, and it appears as though he'll have an easy ride.  His opponent, Tal Braddock, is rather known for erratic behavior and not considered a serious candidate.  Evidence of that would include the fact that Justice Randolph was just endorsed by the Mississippi Physicians in the wake of having the following as hosts for a central Mississippi fundraiser:

Lawyers for Justice Mike Randolph

When trial lawyers, doctors, and BIPEC are all on the same page, that kind of tells you something about the candidates in the race, doesn't it?

Mississippi Power seeks end run to raise rates, Mississippi Supreme Court says no

In connection with the ratepayer-funded construction of their Kemper County lignite coal power plant, Mississippi Power sought to raise rates for their customers an additional $20 a month to cover cost overruns. The Public Service Commission voted to disallow the increase, so Mississippi Power decided to appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court. The Court rejected Mississippi Power's request to raise rates yesterday in an 8-0 decision (Chief Justice Waller did not participate). Here is the Order from the Supremes:

***BREAKING - STATE REP. EARLE BANKS QUALIFIES TO RUN AGAINST CHIEF JUSTICE WALLER***

In an unexpected move, Rep. Earle Banks (D - Jackson), has qualified to run against Chief Justice Bill Waller. The demographics of central district may make Banks a favorite against the incumbent Waller. This being a presidential election year, turnout will be up.

This is the same district that saw the last sitting Chief Justice, Jim Smith, defeated in the last presidential election year.

Today's the day. Will there be any surprise filings in the appellate races?

Today at 5:00 pm is the filing deadline for attorneys hoping to join the Mississippi Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals. So far, there's been very little in terms of surprises. In fact, the only surprise came when Lydia Quarles opted out of the northern district race, which is now between Flip Phillips and Josiah Coleman.

It is quite possible that the incumbents won't draw opposition, but we'll find out this evening for sure. Watch this space.