Special Chancellor Jess Dickinson denied all motions and entered a final judgement in Lumumba v. City Council of Jackson today. The not-so-Iron Chancellor refused to rule on whether the Mayor's veto of the City Council's rejection of the Richard's Disposal emergency contract is legal.
Judge Dickinson ruled in a previous order that only the City Council could approve contracts but said only the Mayor could select vendors.
Kingfish note: Expect this judgment to be appealed.
46 comments:
Waste of tax dollars all around. Remember this next election cycle. Vote everyone out.
Very simple. WTF? Who won?
As the great philosopher and baseball player Yogi Berra once said “ It’s deja vu all over again”
Someone needs to tell the Chancellor that he was “useless” in this matter. He shouldn’t have accepted this case.
So he decided not to decide? I don’t understand his ruling.
This matter could have been settled a lot quicker by simply calling WLBT's "LAW CALL." KF is right this needs to get out of this Judge's hands.
So basically he said I fucked up and don’t know how to fix it?
If the "judge" was paid one penny for his legal expertise, he was overpaid by 100%. And he should retire permanently from anything to do with the legal profession.
He made something out of nothing and then made it nothing again. That takes talent or maybe not.
So, he wasted more of our money and time and just kicked the can down the road.
Is anyone in Jackson competent enough to handle this?
I guess not.
Classic Dickinson. Always gotta be trying to be clever in the most obvious ham fisted way possible.
A reminder that solving Jackson's problems are not just a matter of "the state taking over". Take a good look at the "state". Really.
I guess he wants to go home to the Coast?
But he was supported by the MS Republican Party so he must know what he’s doing.
Absolute clown show. Makes Pickard look like a jurist!
He ruled on the law, Too bad you don’t like the outcome. You and the City Council have to live with it! The mayor rules!
This “only in Mississippi moment “ has been brought to you by…
What a cop out. He put himself in a pickle. If he rules on the veto either;
A) he would essentially have to admit that his “footnote” contradicted the constitution
B) dig himself in an even bigger hole by issuing an order allowing and illegal veto
Either way he doesn’t wanna look like an even bigger idiot. Good for his ego, terrible for Jackson.
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right.....
If a mayor can 'veto' a council's approval or lack of approval, then the council has no power, and the mayor is a dictator. If the situation were reversed and a veto was done by a group then a law could require some super majority vote to veto, thus making the veto stronger than ordinary votes. But one person can't get a super majority. So, a veto means essentially nothing. It means I want what I already told you I wanted.
In the case of an 'emergency' they are both in the soup and both eventually must answer to the voters. If they can't agree trash could pile up in yards until public pressure forces then to agree on something. But they risk all being voted out of office if they let it go too far. Seems to me the ruling should be that they both have to do their job. And if this creates a crisis at least the checks and balances that city law requires are preserved.
Seems the judge is afraid to rule properly because it might cause no trash collection. This would not be his fault or his duty to repair. His duty is to see that both side do their jobs and stay in their lanes.
No, 10:27. No one "rules" as a result of this. No one has a contract with the city for garbage pickup. Only the mayor can select a vendor, and only the council can approve the contract. Until both parties are willing to compromise on a vendor, the stalemate will persist.
Worthless Jess Dickinson represents the "culture" of Mississippi government perfectly. Imagine how he ran the Child Welfare Services Agency for the state for five years. Just a pure good ol' boy do-nothing.
Mississippi only makes bad decisions - or no decision, unless there's a tangible or political reward in it any particular hayseed "leader"...it's how they all operate, and still draw down obscene salaries for doing absolutely nothing of substance... except engineering their next press conference/photo opportunity.
And you wonder why Mississippi is anchored at the bottom of the nation in performance.
What did you expect? This is the clown that allowed that drunk back on the road numerous times. Remember her, killed a mom, and critically injured her children. He's a joke, always has been.
Dickinson, no Soloman he, cut the baby in half, ensuring no way forward for the Mayor-Council government of Jackson except to keep paying lawyers until an appeals court sews the baby back.
@10:27 You got jokes!! Thank you for the laughs! Got any more?
Third world city with third world judges.
Free the garbage, errr, land.
I am a retired lawyer/judge who practiced law in Miss. for nearly 50 yrs. Much of that time as a municipal or circuit judge. I do not know Justice Dickinson at all. I do not think any judge I know would have handled this case like he did. I am embarrassed for the legal/judicial community. The citizens of Jackson deserve answers and were looking for leadership from somebody. They got nothing.
Those celebrating this as some sort of Lumumba victory don't truly fathom how ignorant they are. Dickinson needs to be put out to pasture.
8:58am
Thanks for your expertise, please share more of your anonymous opinion.
1. Is "adopted" a plain English word with common meaning?
2. What should ruling, thus far, have been?
3. What is next, how will it end?
2:53a has obviously never lived or done business in Mississippi. None of these folks will get voted out. Nothing will get solved until osha or the deq steps in. The only “winners” Mississippi has ever produced for 100+ years are lawyers and landowners.
https://youtu.be/LJ25-U3jNWM
Fits the moment
Failings of all three branches: Legislative, executive AND judicial. Amazing. Or typical depending on your level of cynicism.
Since the City of Jackson now has a King, why would members of the Council bother to show up for meetings?
... why would members of the Council bother to show up for meetings?
Denying a quorum should be on the table until this mess Dickinson created is overturned on appeal. Lumumba will undoubtedly pay Richards using his false veto power after the Council turns down the claim. Major clusterf%$8. There is no level to which he will not descend in order to take unlawful advantage.
I don't believe Judge Dickinson ever took this case very seriously, as evidenced by his asinine rulings.
Hopefully Judge Dickinson will not get appointed to any more cases as a senior status judge since he obviously lacks the ability to render a legal decision. This final judgement says exactly nothing and his honor has wasted everyone’s time and money.
I hope Judge Jes sees that we all know he is an empty suit.
Its absolutely horrifying to think he has been making similar asinine rulings for so many years.
In this Order, Dickinson says that the issue of whether or not the Mayor can veto the Council's rejection of the Richards' contract is not before him, and thus he would not rule on that specific issue.
But he also noted that the Mayor had filed a separate lawsuit in Circuit Court asking for the Circuit Court to rule on that exact issue. And it's my understanding that the Circuit Court judge transferred that case over to the Chancery Court to be heard by Dickinson. So isn't that issue/question now pending before Dickinson in that newly transferred suit ?
Jess Dickinson is an excellent judge. You may not agree with or understand every one of his rulings, but you cannot legitimately question his intellect, honesty or work ethic.
"Seems the judge is afraid to rule properly because it might cause no trash collection"
I've been thinking the same thing. I wasn't his job to manage a dysfunctional city government.
So, 12:24 - You know him from when you and he both were members of Jerry Clower's coon-hunting club. Or something like that. And he could make one helluva stew, right?
12:24
An excellent judge would not have taken this mess and turned it into an even bigger mess. Especially in chancery court,which is a court of equity, that has wide latitude to resolve issues that come before it.
I understand every one of his rulings, and I agree with some of them. But overall, he did nothing to resolve the problem that he created. Even though in his final judgement he acknowledges that he has the authority to rule on the veto matter, which is the main issue at this point, for some unknown reason he chose not to.
You are right that I can’t question his intellect, honesty, or work ethic based on this one case. But, we all can question if he is an excellent judge.
KF, please remind of us how this Dickinson fellow was assigned/appointed to this cluster f**k.
His logic reminds me of Grand Maester Pycell in GoT.
talk about brain drain...
12:24 Oh yes I can say otherwise. In my work I had occasion to pay close attention to Dickinson's doings on the appellate bench. He was the kind of judge who decided a case viscerally and then looked for reasons to support it. On one notable occasion he took the position that the purpose of an indictment is not to give notice to an accused of what he is charged with, contrary to long and well established precedent. He typically voted with King and Kitchens, and they made up the three oddballs who were forever dissenting because they thought they had the right and duty to change rules of law so as to fit their notions. Beyond that, Dickinson had a bad reputation among lawyers who argued cases. Dickinson reveled in trying to embarrass them. It was a sport for him.
At least Dickinson was gracious enough to make it abundantly clear that his last order was, in fact, a final judgment. Some of the attorneys involved don't seem to know what that is.
FWIW, I reviewed the docket report, and it's a chaotic mess, which Dickinson was charged with sorting out. Footnote aside, the parties/attorneys dumped a ton of BS on him to wade through. Sometimes, a judge needs to hurt lawyers' feelings, which Dickinson seemed reluctant to do.
-12:33
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