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Mississippi Supreme Court elections, 2004-2010

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2010 election

See also: Mississippi judicial elections, 2010
District and Seat Candidates Details Results
District 2, Seat 1 Jess Dickinson Jess Dickinson is up for re-election.[1]

2008 election

Four Mississippi Supreme Court seats were up for election in 2008. Early on, sitting Justice Easley was contending two seats--his own, and fellow Justice Ann Lamar's (both are District Three seats).[2] The election occurred on November 2, 2008.[3]

Election results

Overview

Mississippi has a two-tier appellate court system that reviews decisions of law and fact made by the trial courts. The Mississippi Supreme Court is the court of last resort among state courts. Decisions of the Chancery, Circuit and County Courts and of the Court of Appeals may be appealed to the Supreme Court. Appeals which go directly to the Supreme Court include annexations, bond issues, constitutionality challenges, death penalty cases, disciplinary matters involving attorneys and judges, election contests, certified questions from federal court, utility rates, cases of first impression and issues of broad public interest.

Nine Supreme Court justices are elected from three districts. Nonpartisan elections are staggered so that not all positions are up for election at once. Supreme Court justices serve eight-year terms. Each Supreme Court justice participates in deciding appeals from the entire state. Decisions are by a majority vote of the court.[8]

Districts

District One, Place Three

In District 1, Place 3, Chief Justice James W. Smith, who has served on the court since 1993 and been its Chief Justice since 2004, faces two challengers, Jim Kitchens and Ceola James.

District Two, Place Two

Incumbent Oliver Diaz faces opposition from "Bubba" Pierce.

District Three, Place One

Incumbent Ann Lamar is being challenged by Gene Barton.

District Three, Place Two

Challenger David Chandler is contesting the seat held by incumbent Charles Easley.

2008 developments

Four candidates address crowd

All supreme court candidates, save Oliver Diaz and Ceola James, were present at question and answer session sponsored by the Lafayette County Bar Association in late September. Topics covered ranged from "The Constitution: is it or isn't it a living document?," to faith and the judiciary, and judicial fundraising.

Gene Barton kicked things off by saying faith should not influence someone's judicial rulings. His opponent, Justice Ann Lamar countered that she has never felt her faith has obstructed her rulings. Chandler and Easley concurred.

Chandler later took a stab at the constitution by saying, “There is no good answer [to whether or not the constitution is a living document]. But I think generally that I’m not smart enough to look at written language and predict what the author was really thinking.”

Easley said that the living-document mentality "creates activist judges," a statement he followed up with by saying there are too many activist judges on both the Mississippi Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court. He also firmly believes that unless you can pay for your own campaign, you shouldn't be running.[9]

Diaz and Pierce address crowd

Chancery Judge Randy Pierce and sitting Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz took questions from members of the American Inns of Court at a September luncheon; both candidates stressed how their legal experiences would shape their presences on the court. Diaz cited his 14 years of appellate court experience, and Diaz stressed his common man background. "I love people. That's my talent. It's dealing with people."

Candidates differed on reforms to the Mississippi judiciary. Diaz said he worried about the public perception that the court favors big business and "Pierce served on the House committee that helped craft changes to Mississippi's judicial system designed to limit financial awards in personal injury lawsuits." He noted that changes made keep pharmacists from being sued in a county they never wrote prescriptions.[10]

Push polls being investigated

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has been investigating the use of Push-polls in three Supreme Court races. The polls are particularly deceitful because, while they appear as "legitimate political surveys," they're actually just propaganda. Candidate Jim Kitchens has allegedly been targeted by his competition: sitting Justice Jim Smith. According to the survey, Kitchens represented a man who had killed 34 black children in Atlanta; in reality, Kitchens had only defended the accused, Wayne Williams, when Williams's initial attorney became ill.

Voters were also asked if they'd be more likely to support Justice Chuck Easley, since he accepted campaign funding from imprisoned lawyer Dickie Scruggs.[11]

Randy "Bubba" Pierce has also denied that his campaign has produced Push-polls.

"I do not believe in that kind of campaigning, that kind of negativity. It did not come from this campaign, and it will not come from this campaign."

One person reports being asked if he would be more inclined to vote for Pierce if he knew Pierce had switched from being a Democrat to being a Republican, or if he knew Pierce "loved the Lord."

According to the respondent in question, the survey "started out like a neutral poll and then gradually started (coming) around to the Supreme Court race. It was very clear what they were getting at. It was just outrageous. I thought it was extremely unfair, the way they worded the questions. It was very misleading."

The poll was handled by the Utah-based Western Wat company; Western Wat has been tied to negative polls conducted in New Hampshire and Iowa during the early stages of the presidential election.[12]

GOP endorsements

Brad White, Mississippi's Republican Party chairman announced to a group of voters in mid-September that the party would be endorsing Ann Lamar, David Chandler, James W. Smith and Randy Pierce.[13]

Rivals outraise incumbents

Some opponents of three Supreme Court justices are far outpacing the incumbents in campaign contributions in their quest to gain a seat on the nine-member court, based on initial campaign finance reports. In what is expected to be a hotly contested race, Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. has collected $3,400 to date, while opponent Chancery Judge Randy "Bubba" Pierce of Leakesville, 43, has raised $78,119 in District 2. The third candidate in the race, Gulfport lawyer Paul Newton, 53, reported no contributions, based on the June 10 report. "My opponent has been running a lot longer than I have," Diaz said. "I just signed my paperwork in May." Pierce, a former state lawmaker, couldn't be reached last week.

In District 1, Chief Justice James W. Smith, who has been on the court since 1993, has raised $69,550 this year. His opponent, Crystal Springs lawyer Jim Kitchens, has raised $125,000. Smith and Kitchens couldn't be reached for comment. The third person in the race for Smith's seat, former Chancery Judge Ceola James of Vicksburg, reports no campaign contributions or distributions in the campaign finance report filed with the Mississippi secretary of state.

In the Charles Easley race, Easley, who was elected to the high court in 2000, reported receiving $400. His opponent, state Court of Appeals Judge David Chandler of Ackerman, has raised $82,350 and spent $10,159. When asked about the campaign contributions, Easley said, "I don't need a lot of money. He will need the money. I have right justice on my side." Easley said he expects Chandler to raise at least $500,000.

Lamar's challenger is Okolona lawyer Gene Barton. Lamar has raised $27,000. Barton has raised $17,740.[14]

‘Cronyism’ protest

A Mississippi Supreme Court justice who wants to protest “cronyism at its worst” was running for two seats on his court. Justice Charles "Chuck" Easley told the Columbus Commercial Dispatch he filed to run for his seat and the one occupied by Ann Lamar to protest her midterm appointment by the governor. Easley said the court is dominated by five liberal justices who were appointed by the governor during midterm vacancies. “It’s just cronyism at its worst,” he told the newspaper and a Clarion Ledger columnist. “I want voters to maintain the right to elect their judges.” Easley told the Dispatch it appeared the appointment of Lamar was “politically correct” to make sure the court had at least one female. She replaced retiring Justice Kay Cobb.

Easley said he will eventually drop out of one of the races, and later did.[15]

Diaz faces tough campaign

On May 3, 2008, Associate Justice Oliver Diaz Jr. announced his plans to run for re-election. According to Reason magazine, "Diaz may face a tough campaign, due in part to the fact that he's one of the more liberal justices on the court. He's also the only justice on the court who seems to give a damn about the sham that is Mississippi's criminal justice system. Diaz was instrumental in building a coalition to throw out Dr. Steven Hayne's absurd two-hands-on-the-gun testimony in the Tyler Edmonds case. Diaz not only succeeded in turning that around for a 8-1 vote for a new trial, he wrote a blistering concurring opinion stating that Dr. Hayne should never testify in Mississippi's courts again. Unfortunately, Diaz wasn't able to convince a majority of his colleagues of his opinion of Dr. Hayne, and so Hayne continues to do the bulk of the state's autopsies." The other reason Diaz may face an uphill battle for re-election is because several years ago, he was indicted by the Bush Justice Department on public corruption charges.

The writer concludes, "It would be unfortunate if South Mississippi's voters were to take Diaz off the bench due to what looks like an overtly political federal prosecution. Right now, at least on criminal justice issues, he's the only justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court who seems to even realize Mississippi has a problem."[16]

2004 elections

The 2004 election was held on November 2. The following is a complete list of the candidates.

SUPREME COURT: DISTRICT 1 (CENTRAL) POSITION 1

SUPREME COURT: DISTRICT 1 (CENTRAL) POSITION 2

  • James Graves of Jackson
  • Ceola James of Vicksburg
  • Samac S. Richardson of Brandon
  • William L. “Bill” Skinner of Raymond

SUPREME COURT: DISTRICT 2 (SOUTHERN) POSITION 3

  • David M. Ishee of Gulfport
  • Joe Lee of Ellisville
  • Mike Randolph of Hattiesburg

SUPREME COURT: DISTRICT 3 (NORTHERN) POSITION 3

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Qualifying Candidates
  2. ↑ Easley quits 1 of 2 Supreme Court races
  3. ↑ Mississippi Supreme Court Election Information
  4. ↑ Clarion-Ledger: Mississippi Supreme Court results
  5. ↑ Clarion-Ledger: Mississippi Supreme Court results
  6. ↑ Clarion-Ledger: Mississippi Supreme Court results
  7. ↑ Clarion-Ledger: Mississippi Supreme Court results
  8. ↑ State of Mississippi Judiciary
  9. ↑ Miss. court candidates discuss finances
  10. ↑ Supreme Court Judge candidates go head to head
  11. ↑ Hood targets push polls in SC races
  12. ↑ AG investigates negative polling in race
  13. ↑ NeMiss Republicans convene in county (dead link)
  14. ↑ The Clarion Ledger
  15. ↑ ABA Journal
  16. ↑ Reason magazine

Mississippi courts

Federal courts:

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Mississippi, Southern District of Mississippi • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Mississippi, Southern District of Mississippi

State courts:

Mississippi Supreme Court • Mississippi Court of Appeals • Mississippi circuit courts • Mississippi Chancery Court • Mississippi county courts • Mississippi justice courts • Mississippi youth courts • Mississippi Municipal Courts

State resources:

Courts in Mississippi • Mississippi judicial elections • Judicial selection in Mississippi

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