Oppose Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged

Oppose Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged
by Alan Lange, Editor MississippiPolitics.com
also printed in the October Issue of the Metro Business Chronicle

In what is turning out to be a rather ho-hum political year for the US House and Senate races here in Mississippi, one area of politics that is really heating up is in the judiciary. Mississippi elects its judges in even years, and there are a few compelling races that will affect Metro Jackson for sure.

Races at the Court of Appeals, Circuit and Chancery level will be hotly contested and will likely set fundraising records this time around and may well be marked with a level of acrimony not normally seen in judicial races. So what has all these races heated up? Wilson Carroll, a successful Jackson lawyer and a member of the Hinds County Republican Executive Committee says that it is a function of having a couple of open seats that are rarely vacated. “Many of our judges stay elected for as long as they like and usually run unopposed. Plus, most lawyers don’t want the professional burden of appearing in court in front of someone they lost to or opposed politically.”