The Clarion Ledger is reporting that federal District Judge Dan Jordan has denied an injunction regarding the constitutionality of Mississippi’s election law.
The lawsuit was brought by the National Democrat Redistricting Committee against the state of Mississippi this summer. NDRC’s head is Eric Holder, US Attorney General under President Obama.
However, Jordan did signal that the issue on constitutionality is still in doubt. “No matter what I do, I would encourage the other side to appeal immediately,” Jordan stated in his ruling.
However, he was resolute that the Court would be ill advised to intervene at this point stating that Mississippi could legislate other options.
Whether the Popular-Vote Rule is constitutional or not, Mississippi could choose—in its
own judgment—to scrap it if the Electoral Vote or House Vote Rules are invalidated. Or it could keep it with a different mechanism for deciding the winner if no candidate receives a majority. Indeed, there are numerous methods for electing statewide officials. Fortson, 385 U.S. at 236. Federal courts are simply ill-equipped to make such policy decisions and “should jealously guard and sparingly use [their] awesome powers to ignore or brush aside long-standing state constitutional provisions, statutes, and practices.”
NDRC Lawsuit Order 11/01/19 by yallpolitics on Scribd
Magnolia Tribune
