High court left central question to another day

The Clarion-Ledger Editorial, 7/1/7

In my June 20 column, I referred to the state Supreme Court ruling that the annual diversion of $20 million of tobacco settlement funds to the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi as “unconstitutional and illegal. ” It turns out that the court only said it was “illegal.”

The case is, at heart, a separation of powers case, one in which the key question was whether the Jackson County Chancery Court can divert state funds to a private group that has not been appropriated by the Legislature. But the court apparently didn’t rule on the constitutionality of the diversion after all, only the legality.