Jackson Jambalaya

Judge Tomie Green and her supporters didn't exactly roll over quietly when Judge Swan Yerger removed all serious criminal cases from Judges Green and Winston Kidd and reassigned them to himself and Judge Bobby Delaughter. Here are some quotes from the Jackson Free Press:

"Jackson attorney Dennis Sweet charged in August that Yerger violated the U.S. Constitution when he essentially barred the county’s black circuit court judges from hearing the more serious cases.

“White judges take the most serious issues, and black judges take the less serious criminal cases,” Sweet said, arguing that voters had fairly elected the judges to handle all cases and that Yerger had deprived voters of their political voice...." Article

"House Judiciary A Committee Chairman Ed Blackmon, of Canton, said he was relieved Waller was already considering the move.

“We had concerns over the current system because of the conflicts it seemed to have with our democratic government,” Blackmon said. “Voters elected those judges to handle all kinds of cases and obviously thought them capable of doing so. But the system as it stands, limits the role certain judges can have in certain types of cases. I believe the incoming chief justice wants to do things a little differently, and we certainly support him in this."...."

"U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson said he had been concerned about Yerger’s system. Like Blackmon, Thompson feared it to be a constitutional violation.

“If you have four elected judges with the same power, and a senior judge takes it upon himself to limit the types of cases seen by those duly elected circuit judges, and the limit applies only to the two African American judges, you can reasonably conclude that the system was not fair and demonstrated an insensitivity on Yerger’s part to the issue of their race,” Thompson said. “Not only that, but that system also discriminated against those persons charged with crimes to have an objective individual hear their case. If I were a plaintiff’s lawyer or defense counsel, I would object to the situation on its face as being discriminatory.”....

“The bottom line is there were four elected judges. They have the same salary; they serve the same terms. They ought to be able to hear the same type of cases.."

"“We have a problem when six appointed judges can hear cases that the elected judges are excluded from hearing,” Kidd told the Jackson Free Press. “I had voiced my objections to Smith, but he has the authority to make those assignments, and he is adamant...” Article

Then her Laddness wrote:

"One of your more predictable responses, Iron. What kind of evidence are you looking for? It's a fact that Yerger has done this�given the "hard" cases to white judges (including DeLaughter) and unelected ones appointed by Jim Smith and easier ones to black judges.

It's really hard to see a justification for it. posted by DonnaLadd on 08/12/08 at 08:40 PM"

Then there is this JFP Editorial:

"Perhaps Yerger did not issue this mandate to bar the black judges from hearing homicide and assault cases—but that’s what it looks like. Sweet sounded the alarm after one of his clients found his “robbery” indictment before Judge Green annulled and put before Yerger, where the grand jury upgraded his indictment to the more serious “strong armed robbery.”

Yerger’s split duty roster is an affront to both black voters in one of the most populated black counties in the state, and voters of all races who believe that laws are there to be followed, even if it means good ole boys don’t get their way.

Circuit court judges are elected positions, but the voters in Kidd’s and Green’s subdistricts didn’t get to choose who presides over homicides and robberies...."Editorial

Just curious what they all have had to say about this reassignment.