The Mississippi Supreme Court will ponder the definition of a congressional district as it considers whether a medical cannabis ballot initiative wrongly went to voters.
Chief Justice Michael Randolph pulled out a dictionary during Wednesday’s oral arguments as he questioned Justin Matheny of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office about the state’s practice of using a four-district map to send representatives to Congress and a five-district map, as enshrined in state law, for other purposes.
“If the words are clear, commonly accepted, why do I go anywhere else to go look at statute or arguments about policy?” Randolph said. “What license do I have to go past the plain language?”
Madison, Miss., Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler (R) is challenging the 2020 ballot initiative creating Mississippi’s medical marijuana program on the grounds that a “zombie law” made it unconstitutional.
State law requires signatures for ballot initiatives to come equally from the five congressional districts in existence when Mississippi’s constitution was amended in 1992 to allow citizen-initiated ballot questions. Since 2001, though, Mississippi has had just four congressional districts.
Legislators have made seven attempts to update that law, failing each time, according to court documents.
Current Mississippi congressional districts, left, and the map in place before 2001.
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State
Metheny told the court that the one-fifth signature requirement…
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The Mississippi Supreme Court will ponder the definition of a congressional district as it considers whether a medical cannabis ballot initiative wrongly went to voters.
Chief Justice Michael Randolph pulled out a dictionary during Wednesday’s oral arguments as he questioned Justin Matheny of the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office about the state’s practice of using a four-district map to send representatives to Congress and a five-district map, as enshrined in state law, for other purposes.
“If the words are clear, commonly accepted, why do I go anywhere else to go look at statute or arguments about policy?” Randolph said. “What license do I have to go past the plain language?”
Madison, Miss., Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler (R) is challenging the 2020 ballot initiative creating Mississippi’s medical marijuana program on the grounds that a “zombie law” made it unconstitutional.
State law requires signatures for ballot initiatives to come equally from the five congressional districts in existence when Mississippi’s constitution was amended in 1992 to allow citizen-initiated ballot questions. Since 2001, though, Mississippi has had just four congressional districts.
Legislators have made seven attempts to update that law, failing each time, according to court documents.
Current Mississippi congressional districts, left, and the map in place before 2001.
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State
Metheny told the court that the one-fifth signature requirement…