Friday, May 14, 2021

In a move that surprised absolutely no one, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled in favor of a frivolous lawsuit that tossed out an overwhelmingly popular voter initiative passed last election, effectively changing the state’s Constitution. The decision negates the direct will of the citizens of the state of Mississippi and is based on archaic wording that previously has not factored in decisions favored by the ruling elite. This decision was made without considering the effect it would have on the citizens that supported it, essentially killing off any attempts to do anything about it until the next legislative session.

Of course, that’s just a ten-dollar way of saying the supreme court tossed out the medical marijuana initiative the voters passed by a three-fourths margin last November. This was in response to a lawsuit filed three days before the election by Mary Hawkins Butler, the mayor of Madison (a white-flight suburb of Jackson) objecting to the wording. The initiative bill, initially passed in 1992, called for a majority of signees from Mississippi’s five congressional districts to get an item in front of voters.

Since no one wants to stay here, Mississippi lost a congressional district after the 2000 Census and the legislature has been unable to come to an agreement on redrawing the districts. It was this bit of knowledge that Mary Hawkins Butler – who is on her tenth consecutive four-year term – used in her lawsuit, even though she put the name of the Secretary of State who hadn’t been in office yet. Interestingly, she didn’t seem to have a problem with the two prior voter initiatives from 2008 and 2013, one requiring Voter ID and another limiting government domain.

The state legislature spent most of this year’s session trying to pass some sort of bill that would keep medical marijuana on the table if Mary Hawkins Butler’s lawsuit was successful. By the way, her husband was arrested in a statewide sweep of fraudulent land dealings in 2004. Charges were dropped, but he was initially on the hook for conspiracy, false pretense, and fraud. Anyhow, the legislators couldn’t come to an agreement and every attempt failed. The bone of contention was where the profits from the sale of medical marijuana would go. As Initiative 65 had it, the money would stay in the system rather than go to state or local taxes. This was also probably the reason Mary Hawkins Butler – who lost the Republican nomination for state auditor in 2015 – kicked up dust. Madison’s city bylaws are pretty strict about where businesses can go and what they can do once they’re within the city. In short, elected officials not getting their cut was considered a bridge too far.

Oral arguments were initially made in April and the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision was laid down today. “We grant the petition, reverse the Secretary of State’s certification of Initiative 65, and hold that any subsequent proceedings on it are void.” In plain language, the movement is dead and there’s nothing that can be done to revive it, even though dissenting opinion noted this drifted awfully close to changing rather than interpreting the state constitution. In his dissent, Judge James Maxwell wrote, “Yet the majority does just that – stepping completely outside of Mississippi law – to employ an interpretation that not only amends but judicially kills Mississippi’s citizen initiative process.”

Part of the court’s ruling says the initiative process is dead and unusable until the state gets around to either changing the 1992 law, figuring out the redistricting issue, or some such. The vote stands and the people of Mississippi – 75% of us across the political spectrum – want medical marijuana, but due to a negative, frivolous reading of a legislative process, the government has kicked down the road for 20 years, that vote no longer matters. Mississippi politics, ladies and germs, in case you’ve ever wondered why this state’s so screwed up.

Anyhow. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann announced he’d make medical marijuana a priority when the 2022 session comes around but nothing can be done until then, despite the overwhelming will of the Mississippi citizens. The initiative process is a non-starter and the legislature can’t be trusted to pass something that benefits their constituents more than it does their pockets. A bill sits on Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk, which would make that state the first in medical marijuana in the Deep South. So, good job, you jackasses.

Seriously, Butler’s been in office since 1981. That’s goddamn stupid. If you’re in Madison, run against there. There’s no reason for a city with a population of nearly 25,000 people to be run by the same person for almost 40 years, especially a suburb of Jackson. The town’s like 93% White. That’s terrifying, especially in Mississippi.

Hell. If you can, burn one down for me.