State seeks bench trial in case over Jackson airport

• Mississippi officials say the City of Jackson and the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority are not entitled to a jury trial in the nearly decade-long legal battle.

Mississippi state officials have asked for a bench trial next year in its efforts to take over the state’s largest public airport, stating that Jackson officials and the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority are not entitled to a jury trial.

In the latest legal fight of the nearly decade-long court battle for control of the airport, attorneys for the state said a bench trial is warranted, as the city never requested a jury trial, as required under federal procedure.

The filing states the June 15, 2026, court trial should be a bench trial, as “none of the defendants have ever served and filed any jury demand.”

“The plaintiff’s operative complaint seeks only equitable relief that declares [state law] ‘void,’ and injunctive relief that bars its enforcement,” Mississippi’s attorney general’s office contends. “They have no right to a jury trial on those issues and claims.”

Attorneys for the Magnolia State continued by noting that federal procedure “provides that parties ‘may demand a jury trial by ‘serving,’ and ‘filing’ a ‘written demand’ within ‘14 days after the last pleading directed to the issue is served’… If no such ‘demand is property served and filed,’ the parties’ right to a jury trial is ‘waived.’”

State officials said the reasoning for the takeover is to improve operations at the airport, which serves commercial, private, and military aviation.

According to the Mississippi Airport Association, the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport handled more than 1.3 million passengers in 2023.

The case has been ongoing since 2016, when then-Governor Phil Bryant (R) signed legislation into law giving control to a regional board with nine representatives appointed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, Mississippi National Guard adjutant general, and the Mississippi Development Authority director, as well as Madison and Rankin counties and the City of Jackson.

Efforts to wrestle control have been tied up in federal courts since, and the airport has remained under the direction of the City of Jackson and the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority.

Jackson sued over the state legislation, with its former mayor Chokwe Lumumba (D) telling reporters that the law was racist and alleging that the state was making a power grab. Lumumba said Jackson needed the revenue the airport generates to meet its financial responsibilities.

A federal judge wrote, “If the plaintiffs ultimately prove that the State of Mississippi considered race when it passed a law that targeted the City of Jackson and only the City of Jackson, then yes, that would violate the guarantee of Equal Protection,” District Judge Carlton Reeves wrote.

A request seeking comment from current Jackson Mayor John Horhn (D) was not returned as of Wednesday morning.

Lawmakers from the Jackson area dismiss talk that the possible takeover has racist tones.

“If the airport improves, the City of Jackson will improve,” State Senator Josh Harkins (R) has said.