Update: Governor Phil Bryant appointed State Representative Cory Wilson to replace Judge Griffis on the Court of Appeals .
Governor Phil Bryant issued the following statement.
Gov. Phil Bryant
announced today he has appointed Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge
Kenny Griffis to the Mississippi Supreme Court. He replaces
Chief Justice William L. (Bill) Waller,
Jr., of District 1, Position 1, who is retiring Jan. 31, 2019. Griffis’
appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2019.
Mississippi Supreme
Court District 1 is comprised of Bolivar, Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds,
Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Jefferson, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake,
Madison, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Rankin, Scott,
Sharkey, Sunflower, Warren, Washington, and Yazoo counties.
“Judge Griffis has
served exceptionally on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, and his wealth
of experience on the bench will prove very valuable as he moves into
his new role,” Gov. Bryant said. “He has an
outstanding legal mind and is highly respected among his peers. I have
full faith Judge Griffis will be a real asset to the Mississippi Supreme
Court. Additionally, I am thankful for Chief Justice Waller for
admirably serving the people of Mississippi for
more than 22 years on the state’s highest court, and I wish him well in
retirement. The people of Mississippi owe him a debt of gratitude.”
Griffis has served
since 2003 on the Court of Appeals for District 3, Position 2. He
recently was named Chief Judge of the Court after the retirement of
Chief Judge L. Joseph Lee.
“I thank Governor
Bryant for this appointment, and I am humbled by his expression of
confidence in me,” said Griffis. “It has been an honor and a privilege
to serve the people of Mississippi on the Court of
Appeals for the last sixteen years. I look forward to the opportunity
to serve on the Supreme Court. I am committed to the rule of law, to
apply the law fairly and impartially and to uphold the Constitution of
the United States and the Constitution of the
state of Mississippi.”
Prior to being
elected to the Mississippi Court of Appeals, Griffis was in private law
practice at the Griffis Law Firm, PLLC, in Ridgeland, Miss., from
2001-2003. Additionally, he was in private practice
from 1995-2000 with Lingle, Griffis & Southern, PLLC, in Jackson,
Miss.
Griffis has served
as an adjunct professor of law for both the Mississippi College School
of Law and the University of Mississippi School of Law. He has also been
an adjunct professor and instructor at Belhaven
University and Meridian Community College.
He is a member of
The Mississippi Bar, the Magnolia Bar Association, the Madison County
Bar Association, the Capital Area Bar Association, and the Rankin County
Bar Association. Griffis is also a member of
the Downtown Jackson Rotary Club and is a Paul Harris Fellow.
He currently serves
as a member of the Mississippi Supreme Court’s Committee on Continuing
Judicial Education and has also served on the Supreme Court’s Advisory
Committee on the Civil Rules, as Chair of the
Bench Bar Committee of The Mississippi Bar, and the Committee on
Electronic Filing and Case Management Systems.
He earned his
Bachelor of Accountancy and Juris Doctorate from the University of
Mississippi and was a Certified Public Accountant from 1984 through
2007.
Griffis and his
wife, Mary Helen, are the parents of five boys. They live in Ridgeland,
Miss., and attend Christ United Methodist Church.
33 comments:
He will not hold that seat
I thought Weill was getting that appointment. I am so disappointed
Great selection! He’s been a workhorse on the Court of Appeals and MS jurisprudence is better with him on an appellate court.
Jim Kitchens beat him a couple of years ago. He won't hold the seat!
We ALL have learned to wince every time the prospect of a
Bryant nomination comes up, no matter the position.
I don't know this appointee from Adam but I trust Bryant no further than I can throw his ass. The man has proven to be a total dunce.
Judge Griffis will make an excellent Justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court. He is very thoughtful in his opinions, and is a mainstream, conservative jurist. He will be missed on the COA.
Cory Wilson just announced as Griffis replacement on COA.
Bryant overcame his usual incompetence with this appointment. Great judge. Great guy. We are fortunate to have him on the Court.
Cory Wilson is an average lawyer and a political hack.
Overall, this might be the best day of "appointments" for Governor Bryant.
Griffis is a great selection for the Supreme Court.
Wilson is a great selection for the Appeals Court. Governor Bryant with a slam dunk!
Can we PLEASE PLEASE hurry and have an election to replace Phil Bryant?!
I don't know Griffis, but I do have great respect for his replacement, Cory Wilson. Cory Wilson will do an outstanding job.
“Dead man walking...”
He ain’t got the juice to hold it.
Judge Griffis is an excellent choice for the Mississippi Supreme Court.
I’m almost certain that Cory doesn’t live in Judge Griffis’s district. Someone at the Governor’s office might want to check on that.
Representative Wilson, now Judge Wilson, is a fantastic choice.
Great selection. Bright, fair and diligent in his work. Meets all the requirements of good appellate judge.
With all the well-respected legal minds in Mississippi to choose from, the Governor must have had a very difficult choice to make.
Judge Griffis is as fine as they come. He has been an excellent judge on the Court of Appeals and will make a superb addition to the Supreme Court. He is a highly respected judge and a humble public servant. He is also an excellent campaigner and will not have a problem being elected to a full term.
Now Bryant can appoint his daughter to fill Wilson's spot.
11:03 : All of us would agree that Griffis is great and will be a fine judge, but he will find it almost impossible to hold that seat, only due to demographics. Weill found out how hard it is to win, even against a nobody, when the seat is in a 46% black district. Griffis will be running in a district that is about 58% Black. He has already lost the seat once. He traded a safe job on the COA for a two year spot so that he could get Supreme Court on his resume. He should run hard but he should not fall into the false expectation of winning.
11:12, you need to brush up on your election law. Vacancies in the legislature are filled by special election, not by appointment. His daughter might run, provided she lives in the district, but she can't be appointed.
Griffis will be running in a district that is about 58% Black.
Link?
Um 11:03, I think David McCarty proved he's not a nobody.
534, your 'almost certain' is not quite enough. The COA position is for the old 3rd CD, which Cory 'certainly does' live in. But thanks for your suggestion, which even Feel's office was competent to take care of ahead of time.
He didn't say he was trying to sneak in Medicare Expansion too.
8:33 - A man who can put Hyde-Smith in the House and Mr. Greenjeans in the State-Ag office can surely dispense with election law and put his daughter in the statehouse. He actually believes he has the authority of Executive Order.
Kenny and Cory are honest, outstanding people. We are very fortunate that people of their caliber are willing to serve.
11:03.....McCarty was far from a nobody. He also campaigned his behind off, and got his name out there even more. The demographics that you speak of, even if true, had nothing to do with McCarty defeating Weill. I know this may be hard for some folks to believe, but everything is not about race.
Speaking of 'race', when was the last time Feel appointed an other-than-white person to a position of any mentionable substance?
Times Up! Your answer, please?
Wait! Crap! It just occurred to me. That woman over at DOC who spends her time focusing on the confiscation of cell phones.
7:49: Eight months ago in April 2018, McCarty was a total unknown who had a lot of friends but was politically a nobody. Then Judge Lee stepped down and McCarty jumped in, ran a great campaign and won. NOW he is somebody but before that he was not considered a political heavyweight. Now that has changed. I hear very good things about him and am sure he will be a great judge. Not taking anything away from him, but the district is almost majority black and McCarty received almost all of that vote. He was the checkmarked candidate on sample ballots targeted to the black community. When you start with this much vote, it’s hard not to win. McCarty could have never pulled that off in the much whiter district that Cory Wilson will be serving.
Why would Cory Wilson want this job? Boring job. No notoriety. No chance for media exposure or advancement. Will not lead to the Y'all Politics crowd or photos in those slick Jackson magazines. A thankless and forgotten task. Sack lunches with the courthouse crowd and balding bailiffs. You can only play so much solitaire on the computer. Plus you get beat the first time a black enters the race.
@9:54, because he values public service.
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