STARKVILLE —
The political stakes were high for former Gov. Haley Barbour and Attorney General Jim Hood as the state Supreme Court unveiled their 6-3 decision regarding the constitutionality of Barbour’s end of term pardons, reprieves, clemencies and medical discharges for more than 200 people.
But in the end, the state’s highest court upheld the constitutionality of Barbour’s decisions with the majority opinion making the argument that the Mississippi’s gubernatorial pardons are not reviewable and that judicial interference in the pardons represented a separation of powers conflict.
A review of the records by The Associated Press indicated that Barbour gave full pardons to 203 people, including “17 convicted of murder, 10 convicted of manslaughter, eight convicted of aggravated assault and five convicted of drunken-driving incidents that caused deaths.” Barbour additionally granted other forms of official mercy — full pardons, medical releases, indefinite suspension of sentence or conditional clemency — to 26 inmates who were still in state custody.
The rest — 189 in all — had already been released from prison well in advance of Barbour’s pardons.
Hood had pressed the case based on his contention that a constitutional public notice requirement has not been met. Writing for the majority, Justice Jess Dickinson said: “We are mindful that the victims and their families are entitled to be interested in the subject matter of this case, and they are undoubtedly — and understandably — concerned with its outcome.” But Dickinson concluded that in the opinion of the majority, only Barbour had the constitutional authority to decide if that public notice requirement had been satisfied.
The high court ruling comes just two days after the Mississippi Legislature saw efforts to change the state’s pardon laws died in the respective House and Senate committees. In reaction, Hood vowed to seek a ballot initiative to make the judicial branch responsible for enforcement of the public notice provision for pardons.
For Barbour, the ruling vindicates him of accusations of legal misconduct. As to public perception, the ruling does little to change the fact that some Mississippians are outraged about the pardons and for others it was a political non-event.
Hood comes out of the fray as popular as ever with his political base. The issue will serve him well and may even carry to the 2015 elections as an appeal to his supporters. Likewise, Hood’s detractors will find the spat with Barbour as another brick in the wall of mistrust they’ve built for Hood’s tenure as attorney general.
But it is in the state’s judicial elections where the decision may resonate long and loud. Judicial races in Mississippi have become targets for the national war over tort reform between business/medical interests and trial lawyers. “Soft on crime” is a label most often distorted in these affairs and this issue plays into that campaign scenario for either group that wants to throw the political rock.
Three Supreme Court justices face re-election bids in 2012 — Chief Justice Bill Waller, Justice Mike Randolph and Justice Leslie King. A fourth, Justice George Carlson, has announced his intention to retire and his seat on the bench will be an open seat in the 2012 elections.
Randolph, who was appointed to the high court, joined Waller and Justice Randy Pierce in dissent from the majority opinion upholding the Barbour pardons. Clearly, the remaining justices who joined Dickinson and Carlson in support of the majority opinion run the significant political risk of seeing campaign ads targeting their vote on the Barbour pardons decision during their next re-election bids.
Gubernatorial pardons have not been politicized in Mississippi in over a half-century. But the process will remain under a microscope for years to come regardless the outcome of this case.
Bottom line: Looking for a gubernatorial pardon in Mississippi any time soon? Good luck with that.
(Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at 601-507-8004 or sidsalter@sidsalter.com)
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