Hattip to the TaxPayersChannel for picking this up (listed on twitter).
I knew it was only a matter of time before a Dickie Scruggs tie came to this foolishness. One of the main judges in the ancillary Scruggs cases, MS Northern District Federal Judge Michael Mills, beclowned the out-of-state lawyers filing a voter fraud case, ostensibly on the behalf of the Chris McDaniel campaign.
Mills didn’t mince words in his show cause order. Not a good start for the fleet of out of state trial lawyers pressing McDaniel’s case.
Based upon the allegations of the complaint, it is not clear to this court why this case was filed in the Northern District of Mississippi. Although the complaint does not so indicate, both defendants in this case are residents of Hinds County, and it would appear that the overwhelming majority of the witnesses and evidence in this case are located in the Jackson area. Indeed, defendants’ residence aside, plaintiff True the Vote alleges that, immediately prior to the election, it sought but was denied records by “Hinds and Rankin Counties.” It thus seems clearthat, factually speaking, this case is very strongly centered in the Jackson Division of the Southern District of Mississippi.
It appears that the complaint has been drafted largely to give the impression that it involves Northern District issues when, particularly in light of recent Fifth Circuit precedent discussed below, it actually does not. While a number of plaintiffs in this case do reside in the Northern District, it appears that many, if not most, of them allege nothing more than that they “voted in the 2014 Republican Primary Election and Republican Primary Run-off Election.” The same could be said for hundreds of thousands of voters across this state. It is well settled that, to meet the constitutional standing requirement, a plaintiff must allege “personal injury fairly traceable to the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct and likely to be redressed by the requested relief.” Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. 737, 751 (1984).
Judge Michael Mills Show Cause Order in True the Vote/Vechorik vs. Hosemann and MSGOP
