Mississippi Today
Jimmy Robertson’s death conjures memories of landmark 1992 race
Even his detractors would recognize James Robertson, who died earlier this month, as one of the brightest individuals to have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Robertson, a Harvard educated attorney, University of Mississippi Law School professor and former editor of the Ole Miss student newspaper, was appointed to the state’s highest court in 1983 by then-Gov. William Winter to fill a vacancy. He was defeated in 1992 after twice winning election to the Supreme Court.
Robertson’s tenure on the court and his election loss in 1992 are noteworthy.
In 1992, James Lawton Robertson, known as Jimmy, was challenged by James L. Roberts Jr., also known as Jimmy. At the very least, the election was unique because of the confusion it caused voters.
But it was noteworthy for more than the similarity of the candidates’ names.
Before 1992, most Supreme Court races were low profile. Occasionally there were hotly contested elections for open seats, but often candidates ran unopposed. And it was especially unusual for an incumbent like Robertson to face serious opposition and even more unusual for an incumbent to lose.
Before Robertson lost in 1992, three incumbents on the nine-member Supreme Court dating back to 1948 were defeated, according to research by Leslie Southwick, a judge on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. He provided a comprehensive history of the Supreme Court elections while an adjunct professor at the Mississippi College School of Law. His article, published in 1998 in the school’s law review, was titled Mississippi Supreme Court: A Historical Perspective 1916-1996.
The 1992 race was a watershed event because it ushered in more high profile Supreme Court races where more money was spent and where various special interest groups aligned behind candidates.
Both Roberts and Robertson touted impressive qualifications and had unique personalities. Robertson was known for his ability to turn a phrase. Roberts has a self-deprecating sense of humor. Robertson had been on the court for almost a decade. Roberts, a Pontotoc County native, was a chancery judge, and previously served as the public safety commissioner in the administration of Gov. Bill Allain.
Both contributed to the state as public servants.
In 1992, Roberts was endorsed by the Mississippi Prosecutors Association. Efforts were made to paint Robertson as too liberal and soft on crime. Southwick wrote, “An anonymous circular was disseminated throughout the campaign, a document distributed by others and not by Chancellor Roberts, that focused on different opinions by Justice Robertson on criminal cases.” Southwick said the circular misrepresented at least one Robertson opinion, making it seem he opposed the death penalty when in fact his concerns were with one “problematic jury instruction” in a death penalty case.
At any rate, Roberts won 39,601 votes to 29,632 in the north Mississippi district. The race was one of the most expensive to date: Robertson spent $152,000 to $124,000 for Roberts.
It should be noted that two years before the 1992 race, another incumbent was defeated. Justice Joel Blass, a former Gulf Coast legislator, lost to Chuck McRae. That race was different, though, in that Blass had just been appointed by then-Gov. Ray Mabus to fill a vacancy and did not take office until February of 1989 — just before the 1990 election. McRae won with the backing of the Mississippi Trial Attorneys and the Mississippi Prosecutors Association and spent $183,500 to $100,500 for Blass.
The 1990 McRae-Blass race and the 1992 Roberts-Robertson contest appeared to be a harbinger of tougher times for Supreme Court incumbents. After only four incumbents lost between 1948 and 1992, another four incumbents were defeated between 2000 and 2008. In most of those races, contributions to the candidates came from business groups and from trial attorneys who were on opposite ends of civil justice issues.
That 1992 race concluded with Roberts resigning in 1999 before his term ended to run an unsuccessful campaign for governor. He later said resigning from the Supreme Court was a mistake. But he eventually was appointed in 2007 to a circuit court judicial post in northeast Mississippi by then-Gov. Haley Barbour. He retired in 2020.
After his defeat, Robertson practiced law in Jackson, wrote books and articles and was lauded upon his death.
Michael B. Wallace, a staunch Republican who practiced law with Robertson, said in a Supreme Court news release, “He was not only brilliant. He was courageous. As a judge he would apply the law as he saw it, no matter where the chips would fall … He thought people deserved a fair trial and he was willing to do what was necessary to make that happen … He believed very strongly and had the courage to act upon it.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
An ad supporting Jenifer Branning finds imaginary liberals on the Mississippi Supreme Court
The Improve Mississippi PAC claims in advertising that the state Supreme Court “is in danger of being dominated by liberal justices” unless Jenifer Branning is elected in Tuesday’s runoff.
Improve Mississippi made the almost laughable claim in both radio commercials and mailers that were sent to homes in the court’s central district, where a runoff election will be held on Tuesday.
Improve Mississippi is an independent, third party political action committee created to aid state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County in her efforts to defeat longtime Central District Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens of Copiah County.
The PAC should receive an award or at least be considered for an honor for best fiction writing.
At least seven current members of the nine-member Supreme Court would be shocked to know anyone considered them liberal.
It is telling that the ads do not offer any examples of “liberal” Supreme Court opinions issued by the current majority. It is even more telling that there have been no ads by Improve Mississippi or any other group citing the liberal dissenting opinions written or joined by Kitchens.
Granted, it is fair and likely accurate to point out that Branning is more conservative than Kitchens. After all, Branning is considered one of the more conservative members of a supermajority Republican Mississippi Senate.
As a member of the Senate, for example, she voted against removing the Confederate battle emblem from the Mississippi state flag, opposed Medicaid expansion and an equal pay bill for women.
And if she is elected to the state Supreme Court in Tuesday’s runoff election, she might be one of the panel’s more conservative members. But she will be surrounded by a Supreme Court bench full of conservatives.
A look at the history of the members of the Supreme Court might be helpful.
Chief Justice Michael Randolph originally was appointed to the court by Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who is credited with leading the effort to make the Republican Party dominant in Mississippi. Before Randolph was appointed by Barbour, he served a stint on the National Coal Council — appointed to the post by President Ronald Reagan who is considered an icon in the conservative movement.
Justices James Maxwell, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis were appointed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.
Only three members of the current court were not initially appointed to the Supreme Court by conservative Republican governors: Kitchens, Josiah Coleman and Robert Chamberlin. All three got their initial posts on the court by winning elections for full eight-year terms.
But Chamberlin, once a Republican state senator from Southaven, was appointed as a circuit court judge by Barbour before winning his Supreme Court post. And Coleman was endorsed in his election effort by both the Republican Party and by current Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who also contributed to his campaign.
Only Kitchens earned a spot on the court without either being appointed by a Republican governor or being endorsed by the state Republican Party.
The ninth member of the court is Leslie King, who, like Kitchens, is viewed as not as conservative as the other seven justices. King, former chief judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, was originally appointed to the Supreme Court by Barbour, who to his credit made the appointment at least in part to ensure that a Black Mississippian remained on the nine-member court.
It should be noted that Beam was defeated on Nov. 5 by David Sullivan, a Gulf Coast municipal judge who has a local reputation for leaning conservative. Even if Sullivan is less conservative when he takes his new post in January, there still be six justices on the Supreme Court with strong conservative bonafides, not counting what happens in the Branning-Kitchens runoff.
Granted, Kitchens is next in line to serve as chief justice should Randolph, who has been on the court since 2004, step down. The longest tenured justice serves as the chief justice.
But to think that Kitchens as chief justice would be able to exert enough influence to force the other longtime conservative members of the court to start voting as liberals is even more fiction.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1968
Nov. 24, 1968
Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver fled the U.S. to avoid imprisonment on a parole violation. He wrote in “Soul on Ice”: “If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America.”
The Arkansas native began to be incarcerated when he was still in junior high and soon read about Malcolm X. He began writing his own essays, drawing the praise of Norman Mailer and others. That work helped him win parole in 1966. His “Soul on Ice” memoir, written from Folsom state prison, described his journey from selling marijuana to following Malcolm X. The book he wrote became a seminal work in Black literature, and he became a national figure.
Cleaver soon joined the Black Panther Party, serving as the minister of information. After a Panther shootout with police that left him injured, one Panther dead and two officers wounded, he jumped bail and fled the U.S. In 1977, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, he returned to the U.S. pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and served 1,200 hours of community service.
From that point forward, “Mr. Cleaver metamorphosed into variously a born-again Christian, a follower of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a Mormon, a crack cocaine addict, a designer of men’s trousers featuring a codpiece and even, finally, a Republican,” The New York Times wrote in his 1998 obituary. His wife said he was suffering from mental illness and never recovered.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1867
Nov. 23, 1867
The Louisiana Constitutional Convention, composed of 49 White delegates and 49 Black delegates, met in New Orleans. The new constitution became the first in the state’s history to include a bill of rights.
The document gave property rights to married women, funded public education without segregated schools, provided full citizenship for Black Americans, and eliminated the Black Codes of 1865 and property qualifications for officeholders.
The voters ratified the constitution months later. Despite the document, prejudice and corruption continued to reign in Louisiana, and when Reconstruction ended, the constitution was replaced with one that helped restore the rule of white supremacy.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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