What do you call a form of government where all three branches — legislative, executive and judicial — conspire to stifle the will of people and suppress their rights?
Is it Fascism? Totalitarianism?
As of Friday, there is another term that could be used to describe it:
Mississippi-ism.
On Friday, the Mississippi Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, sounded the death knell of citizen-led government in our state, ruling that the citizens-approved constitutional amendment to establish a Medical Marijuana program is unconstitutional.
Regardless of your views on medical marijuana, what happened Friday makes every Mississippian a lesser citizen of the United States. We no longer have the right to petition the government that was enshrined in the United States Constitution by the First Amendment
The ruling exposes the true nature of our state government. It goes beyond one-party rule or ideology to affirm our worst suspicions, that our government is wholly owned by a few people in powerful positions acting in agreement, if not direct concert.
Whether it’s funding education, legalizing medical marijuana, expanding Medicaid or choosing a state flag, the will of the people is now set aside — likely forever — by this cabal of constitutional cannibals — whether they reside in the governor’s office, the Legislature or, as we saw Friday, the state supreme court.
The supreme court’s logic in throwing out the medical marijuana constitutional amendment exposes the court for what it is — politicians pretending to be jurists. The majority opinion, delivered by Justice Josiah Coleman, ruled that the people cannot amend the constitution because — are you sitting down? — there are only four congressional districts in the state.
Jesus, take the wheel.
That argument is as ridiculous as the lawsuit that challenged the November 2020 election when voters approved the constitutional amendment by a 3-to-1 margin.
The suit, brought by the useful idiot mayor of Madison, Mary Hawkins Butler, focused on an arcane and meaningless provision in the constitution that the signatures required to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot must be equally distributed among the state’s five congressional districts. The argument made to the supreme court is that since Mississippi lost a congressional district in 2000, there are not the requisite five districts required to allow citizens the right to petition the government.
That is patently absurd. After all, that fifth congressional district wasn’t lopped off the map in 2000 with its citizens disappearing into the ether. The lines on the map may have disappeared. The rights of citizens did not.
Pull out a map from prior to 2000 and prove that the signatures on the petition were not equally distributed across the state. That is the entire point, right?
In making their ruling, the court also ignored well-established precedent. High courts are bound by precedent. But, apparently, the Mississippi Supreme Court is the exception.
In 2011, citizens approved constitutional amendments to limit the government’s imminent domain powers and to require Voter IDs despite only having four congressional districts. Are we to assume Friday’s ruling renders those amendments unconstitutional as well?
As if to provide even more evidence of its incompetence, the supreme court said the Legislature has the sole authority to determine whether citizens can amend the constitution through the ballot by changing the “five district” language. Unless, and until, it does, Mississippians cannot amend the constitution at the ballot box. But the people do not derive their power from the Legislature. The Legislature derives its power from the people. How does the supreme court not know this?
So, there you have it: The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld one obscure, irrelevant element of the state constitution while violating one of the most important constitutional rights we hold as Americans.
The Mississippi Supreme Court strained at the gnat and swallowed the camel.
They have dishonored their robes and made Mississippians inferior citizens.
The worst part? This was not an accident but by design.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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