Earlier post with copy of petition.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mills ordered the plaintiffs in True the Vote et al v. the Republican Party of Mississippi to "show cause as to why" he should not transfer the case to the Southern District of Mississippi. True the Vote and several Mississippi residents asked the U.S. District Court in Oxford (Northern District) to issue an injunction against Secretary of State Egbert Hosemann and the Mississippi Republican Party. True the Vote asked the court to declare it had a "right to inspect" the voter rolls used in the June 24 election and all accompanying materials. The plaintiffs also ask the court to prevent the Republican Party from certifying the election.
The plaintiffs claim they were "denied access" to Mississippi's voter rolls when they sought to investigate alleged "irregularities" in the June 24 Mississippi Republican primary run-off election. One plaintiff, True the Vote, claims such denials infringe upon its rights under the National Voter Registration Act.
Judge Mills stated:
Based upon the allegations of the complaint, it is not clear to this court why this case was filed in the Northern District of Mississippi. Although the complaint does not so indicate, both defendants in this case are residents of Hinds County, and it would appear that the overwhelming majority of the witnesses and evidence in this case are located in the Jackson area. Indeed, defendants’ residence aside, plaintiff True the Vote alleges that, immediately prior to the election, it sought but was denied records by “Hinds and Rankin Counties.” It thus seems clear that, factually speaking, this case is very strongly centered in the Jackson Division of the Southern District of Mississippi.
The jurist then hammered the plaintiff's lawyer without using Sharknado references:
The court’s concerns in this regard are heightened by the fact that the drafter of the complaint frequently seems unaware of the precise nature of the allegations of particular plaintiffs, at times making vague allegations “upon information and belief.” It is unclear to this court why a drafter would find it necessary to state matters “upon information and belief” which should be within the personal knowledge of the plaintiffs. Even assuming that some of the northern district plaintiffs sought records from counties in this district (as the complaint appears to vaguely suggest), the fact remains that those counties are not defendants in this lawsuit.
Judge Mills also state the plaintiff's claim the state was barring access to the voting records under the National Voter Registration Act might fail.
It seems clear to this court that what plaintiffs are actually alleging in this case is that Mississippi’s enactment of Miss. Code Ann. § 25-61-5, discussed below, hinders their federal right, under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973gg et seq to gain access to voting records, and thereby prove that violations of state law took place. The court finds this claim, unlike the Equal Protection vote dilution claim, to be a coherent one which might at least conceivably prove successful,3 although a number of obstacles do appear to stand in plaintiffs’ way....
The jurist provides a more detailed argument on page 5. His order challenged the plaintiffs in closing:
It has not escaped this court’s attention that the issues in this case are highly charged,
politically speaking, and it appears that the decision to file suit in Oxford may have been based upon political calculations, the exact nature of which are unclear to this court. Regardless, the §1404(a) inquiry is based upon non-political factors which simply seek to ascertain which court is best positioned to decide a particular case. The court is accordingly strongly inclined to transfer this case to the Southern District of Mississippi, but it will give the parties an opportunity to persuade it otherwise prior to doing so.
It is therefore ordered that the parties are directed to show cause as to why this case
should not be transferred to the Southern District of Mississippi. Response shall be filed by July
18, 2014.
26 comments:
Oh don't y'all understand, now Judge Mills is part of the conspiracy!! Everyone who doesn't support McDaniel is part of the conspiracy!
forum/judge shopping not a pleasant topic in federal court...
Holy heck, that is a scathing and very well-written Show Cause Order.
Sensational headline meant to suggest the judge queried "Why do you exist"?
Anybody has a right to file in any venue. If it sticks, fine. If not, it will be transferred. Why not wait for the response from the plaintiff before getting your tits in a flutter and chanting the same old 'nut case' crap?
Since Cochran lives in Oxford it would almost make sense if they were trying to implicate him in the complaint. But even at that, they'd be suing him in his official capacity so I'd assume it would be his Jackson office as well.
But I guess that's what happens when out of state lawyers try to piece the case together.
This was an "avoid Wingate at all costs" move.
Judge Wingate is kind of slow...and he is also AA...which, you might have heard, is not exactly the tea parties demographic.
They're playing the round a few clubs short of a full set, give the teabaggers and their carpetbaggers a mulligan or three just to keep them in the game. It will be a long dull summer once McDaniel and his krewe of klowns are sent to the bench.
3:56: in other words, you think that forum shopping is a legitimate tactic and you will faithfully await an email from your fearless leader das Führer McDaniel in which he will reveal the sound legal reasoning for filing in the Northern District then ask you to donate $15 for the cost of preparing the response. And yes, I recognize that True the Vote, and not das Führer, actually filed the lawsuit.
I needed a good laugh...
Someone is trying to fool someone here, three or four different ways.
This case is over. 2 more weeks to file responses, another 2 weeks to have a ruling to transfer the case, more delays w judge Wingate, and poof, it's the middle of November.
@4:15pm, you said "Judge Wingate is kind of slow." I hope your reference is to his slow response when writing an opinion (because that is true), but if it inferred that he is intellectually slow, that is NOT true.
I think by slow they mean the pace of his docket.
I saw him in action last year at the Blue Cross hearing. Was pretty damn sharp and intellectually quick on his feet.
NOW I do have one question. Did True the Vote ask for an emergency hearing, a TRO, or the like? In other words, did it make full use of the federal rules to expedite things?
For what it's worth, Judge Wingate's nomination was strongly supported by Senator Cochran. The rumor at the time was that if William Winter had defeated Cochran in the 1984 election, Reuben Anderson (who campaigned for Winter) would have been nominated for the position instead.
Personally, I don't think any of that matters to Judge Wingate. He'll decide the case on the law and the facts.
I do find it passing strange that a group of folks who believe in a limited Federal government decided not to file this case in Mississippi Circuit or Chancery Court.
So, KF, if the campaign has access to every ballot box, why does True to Vote need to be in court at all?
And, please tell me the clerks are giving McDaniel " trainees" carte blanche , unsupervised access.
GD these TP people are nuts. It is hard to believe they don't see how stupid they look. Just saw beady eyes on 3, interviewed from the coast. Good Lord he looks scary. Sounded stupid in his response to all of this nonsense.
These people are scary. I am white. Think what the brothers are thinking.
OK, got a question. What part of NVRA are they (TTV) referring to when they claim public records access under that Act? The public records access section of NVRA seems concerned with records associated with the activities of NVRA, primarily the maintenance and purging of voter rolls -- unrestricted access to election day rolls/records, I can't find.
This is what it says:
(i) Public disclosure of voter registration activities
(1) Each State shall maintain for at least 2 years and shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records concerning the implementation of programs and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists of eligible voters, except to the extent that such records relate to a declination to register to vote or to the identity of a voter registration agency through which any particular voter is registered.
(2) The records maintained pursuant to paragraph (1) shall include lists of the names and addresses of all persons to whom notices described in subsection (d)(2) of this section are sent, and information concerning whether or not each such person has responded to the notice as of the date that inspection of the records is made.
How does this mandate immediate access to and reproduction of unredacted election day records?
>>>How does this mandate immediate access to and reproduction of unredacted election day records?<<<
Start thinking like a teabagger:
1. No fair reading the appropriate rules! Just find something that sounds good and keep repeating it!
2. The rules were made by toadies and democRATs.
3. The Tea Party answers to a higher power
4. The rules were don't apply to meeeee.
5. If you still haven't won go back to the top at #1 and start repeating yourself again but LOUDER THIS TIME!!!
When all else has failed, ask for donations.
What is the matter with you RINOs? Are you so afraid that your bogus election is about to be overturned that all you can do is call names and spew venom?
What is happening, like it or not, is a legitimate legal process which will play out to it's completion in the court system. Calling someone "fuehrer" and "teabagger" is not going to accomplish anything except to show the world your ignorance or perhaps your stupidity would be a better choice of terms. You seem to forget that a great number of Mississippi Republicans, (real Republicans, not RINOs and Democrats seeking their own agenda) supported and voted for Senator McDaniel. In my opinion it is very unwise to continue to try to provoke that many people simply because you are afraid of the possible outcome of a legal action.
It is better to remain silent and have the world think you are a fool than to open your mouth and confirm the fact!
Hasn't Judge Wingate sat on the Jackson AEO case for over ten years?
9:46
What we are afraid of is the stain that McDaniel is leaving on the party. The longer he drags this out, the better chance Childers has of winning the election. The last two weeks have rendered McDaniel virtually unelectable in a state wide election. He is finished. Suck it up, admit defeat and move on.
Also, as I learned in law school and in practice, a "legitimate legal process" involves filing suit in the proper district and not shamelessly forum shopping. When you have to forum shop, your case is weak.
If McDaniel is so concerned with helping Mississippi and creating jobs here, why does he not insist that true the vote use Mississippi attorneys? Likewise, why is a California "journalist" or blogger McDaniel's mouth-piece? No good attorneys in Mississippi? No journalist? At least our attorneys know what federal district Hinds and Rankin are in? Likewise our journalist know how to verify their stories (Delbert at the casino) before publishing them online. One would think that if McDaniel cared about anyone, apart from himself, he would use his influence with these out-of-town groups to at least employ some local talent. We all know that Mississippi voters, regardless of party, hate two things: outsourcing jobs and outsiders meddling in Mississippi business.
Survey shows: The average age of these Cackrun/Barbour posters is 33. Then they email each other with drivel like, "Hey man, did you see what I posted at 9:45?" "Yeah, Dude, and how about MY reply at 2:12? Jeppie said Haley loved it."
11:07 The stain on the party was put there by the Cochran campaign, not Chris McDaniel. The MSGOP establishment sold out to the Democrats to buy votes and now those Democrats are calling in a part of the debt by demanding support for another voting rights act. I am old enough to remember when you had to be a Democrat to hold a state office in Mississippi. I also remember that we didn't leave the Democrat party, the party left us and now the Republican party is doing the exact same thing.
Hate to tell you 7:37AM, the "stain on the party" was put there when some McDainel supporters decided it would be a great idea to accuse the Senator of an affair and it would really prove their point and win them brownie points to go univited into a very sick, very innocent person's private room and take her picture for publication. Just remember it was at that point that the national news started calling this the dirtiest campaign in the country. The McDaniel supporters earned the race that title. And don't forget who was caught in a courthouse, unsupervised with uncounted ballots on election night.
Right Survey Shows. I mean, what campaign wants the 25-35 year old demographic? Oh right, all of them.
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