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
On this day in 1750
Nov. 4, 1750
Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the “Father of Chicago,” was born.
A man of African descent, he became the first known settler in the area that became the city of Chicago. He married a Potawatomi woman, Kitiwaha (Catherine), and they had two children.
According to records, the property included a log cabin with two barns, a horse-drawn mill, a bakehouse, a poultry house, a dairy, a smokehouse, a fenced garden and an orchard. At his trading post, DuSable served Native Americans, British and French explorers and spoke a number of languages.
“He was actually arrested by the British for being thought of as an American Patriot sympathizer,” Julius Jones, curator at the Chicago History Museum told WLS, but DuSable beat those charges.
In Chicago today, a school, street, museum, harbor, park and bridge bear his name. The place where he settled near the mouth of the Chicago River is now a National Historic Landmark, part of the city’s Pioneer Court.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Mississippi’s top election official discusses Tuesday’s election
Secretary of State Michael Watson talks with Mississippi Today’s Geoff Pender, Bobby Harrison and Taylor Vance ahead of Tuesday’s election. He urges voters to remember sacrifices many have made to protect Americans’ voting rights and get to the polls, and he weighs in on whether a recent court ruling on absentee vote counting will impact this year’s elections.
READ MORE: As lawmakers look to cut taxes, Mississippi mayors and county leaders outline infrastructure needs
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
Insurance chief willing to sue feds if Gov. Reeves doesn’t support state health exchange
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is willing to sue the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services if it does not allow Mississippi to create a state-based health insurance exchange because of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ potential opposition.
Federal officials, who must approve of a state implementing its own health insurance exchange, want a letter of approval from a state’s governor before they allow a state to implement the program, according to Chaney.
“I don’t know what the governor’s going to do,” Chaney told Mississippi Today. “I think he’ll probably wait until after the election to make a decision. But I’m willing to sue CMS if that’s what it takes.”
The five-term commissioner, a Republican, said his requests to Reeves, also a Republican, to discuss the policy have gone unanswered. The governor’s office did not respond to a request to comment on this story.
Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a law authorizing Chaney’s agency to create a Mississippi-based exchange to replace the federal exchange that currently is used by Mississippians to obtain health insurance. The bill became law without the governor’s signature.
States that operate their own exchanges can typically attract more companies to write health insurance policies and offer people policies at lower costs, and it would likely save the state millions of dollars in payments to the federal government.
Chaney also said he’s been consulting with former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who also supported some version of a state-based exchange while in office, about implementing a state-based program.
Currently, 21 states plus the District of Columbia have state-based exchanges, though three still operate from the federal platform. Should he follow through and sue the federal government, Chaney said he would use outside counsel and several other states told him they would join the lawsuit.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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