Though we aren’t sure they’ve earned it, state lawmakers received a vote of confidence from the federal level recently.

The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the right and duty of the state legislators to redistrict congressional districts.

It’s the right decision.

Redistricting should be handled on the local level by the men and women elected to represent us, not done by the federal government as a lawsuit by the NAACP suggested.

With the matter of constitutional fact settled, we do hope the leaders elected to lead our state can learn from their ridiculous mistakes.

The lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court opinion was the result of a failed redistricting process earlier this year.

Our leaders didn’t do what we elected them to do. They wasted our taxpayer dollars arguing over where to draw lines, and they ran out of time.

It’s still possible that the legislative elections will have to be redone next year — costing us all tens of thousands of dollars.

The damage is done now, and many of those state leaders are tied up in elections at the moment.

We hope that when the newly elected or re-elected leaders head back to session in January they’ll be ready to get things moving in the right direction.

The Supreme Court says it’s their job; taxpayers have said it’s their job. The time for legislators to get their job done is long overdue.

Online:

http://www.natchezdemocrat.com