Compliance with ruling on primaries leaves judge in control

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 6/15/7

Federal District Judge W. Allen Pepper in Greenville quietly demolished Mississippi’s century-old party primary election law last Friday night, declaring it worked in one-party days, but won’t today.

Pepper upheld a constitutional challenge of the law by the Mississippi Democratic Executive Committee which brought the lawsuit based on its complaint that Republicans were voting in Democratic primaries to help nominate weaker candidates to face GOP candidates in the general election.

It seems evident that the north Mississippi judge, a Clinton administration appointee who was recommended by Republican U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, may now control the state’s election process for years to come.