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Gov. Haley Barbour sent out a press statement yesterday in which he doesnโ€™t bother to hide that he plans to work โ€œcloselyโ€ with two new conservative members of the Mississippi Supreme Court. How in the world does the Executive branch of Mississippi government plan to work with the Judiciary branch. This just proves that Barbour is clueless when it comes to โ€œseparation of powers.โ€ Hereโ€™s the money quote; the full release is below the fold:

โ€œOn behalf of the citizens of Mississippi I want to thank Judge Pierce and Judge Chandler for their dedicated service in their respective positions. I also would like to congratulate them on their elections, and I look forward to working with them closely as they serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court,โ€ Governor Barbour said. (my emphasis added)

GOVERNOR BARBOURโ€™S JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE SEARCHING
TO FILL VACANCIES

(JACKSON, Mississippi) โ€“ Governor Haley Barbourโ€™s Judicial
Appointments Advisory Committee is conducting a search to fill the
vacancies of two court positions. The open positions are the
Mississippi Chancery Court seat for District 16, which includes George,
Greene and Jackson counties, and the Mississippi Court of Appeals for
District 1, Position 1, covering the northeastern corner of the state,
as a result of the recent elections of Judge Randy Pierce and Judge
David Chandler to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

โ€œOn behalf of the citizens of Mississippi I want to thank Judge
Pierce and Judge Chandler for their dedicated service in their
respective positions. I also would like to congratulate them on their
elections, and I look forward to working with them closely as they serve
on the Mississippi Supreme Court,โ€ Governor Barbour said.

The Governorโ€™s Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee will review
nominees in accordance with Executive Order 914 and make recommendations
on replacements for Judge Pierce and Judge Chandler. The 31-member
committee includes a chairman and ten attorneys from each of the
stateโ€™s Supreme Court Districts.

Anyone interested in applying for this position, who has not yet
applied, or is interested in recommending prospective candidates should
contact Amanda Jones at (601) 576-2565 or Ed Brunini, Jr., the chairman
of the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee at (601) 948-3101. All
applications and recommendations should be submitted prior to Dec. 31.

Previous Comments

He probably just means working closely with them to stamp out that Judicial activism that the Republicans always talk about.


It’s obvious: Barbour and Palin attended the same Civics class.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.