If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail again. Such happened yesterday when JMAA and U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves suffered a beatdown in New Orleans. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Judge Reeves to dismiss JMAA's lawsuit against the state of Mississippi. JMAA and the city of Jackson sued to block the state from taking control of Jackson's airport. However, the city of Jackson's lawsuit remains alive - for now.
The Mississippi legislature passed SB #2162 in 2016. The bill abolished the Board of Commissioners appointed by the city of Jackson while expanding the Board from five to nine members. The city of Jackson would appoint two members of the new Board while state officials, Rankin County, and Madison County appoint the other Commissioners.
Former JMAA Commissioner Reverend Jeffrey Stallworth sued that same year in U.S. District Court to stop the state takeover. The JMAA Board of Commissioners and the city of Jackson sued to intervened in the lawsuit. The Court later dismissed Stallworth from the lawsuit as the Commissioners and city of Jackson assumed their roles as plaintiffs.
The zombie lawsuit lived on in federal court for years as a pattern developed. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves would rule in favor of JMAA on an issue. The state appealed to the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit in turn reversed Judge Reeves. After yet another smackdown in New Orleans, JMAA tried a new tactic and subpoenaed several legislators who participated in drafting the bill, claiming it wanted to see if there was a racist intent in drafting the bill. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ordered the legislators to answer JMAA's discovery requests. The Solons of the Capitol appealed yet again to the Fifth Circuit.
This litigation has been ongoing for almost eight years, has come before this court three times, and has now seen four oral arguments. The district court should act forthwith to determine whether, given that all of the commissioners’ claims are moot, it may nonetheless exercise jurisdiction over the case.
The Commissioners who are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit no longer serve on the Board. However, the plaintiffs added two active commissioners to their side. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba bragged the ruling meant nothing:
The Fifth Circuit’s decision did not resolve any issue adversely to the city," said Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. "All it did was dismiss the appeal on a procedural ground, and send the case back to the district court without deciding anything. Once the case is back in district court, the city will resume litigating the case along with the other plaintiffs. Today’s ruling ultimately changes nothing.
However, the Court gave a strong hint of where it was going in a 2019 ruling in the case:
That Jackson “has been singled out by [S.B.] 2162” does not establish that a legally protected interest of the individual plaintiffs has been violated. Cities are creatures of states, and though their authority to do so is not un-limited, states may, under some circumstances, treat different cities differently. That the State of Mississippi has enacted a different method for the appointment of certain municipal airport commissioners and not others does not mean that plaintiffs, as residents and taxpayers of Jackson, have suffered a concrete and particularized, actual and imminent injury to interests protected by the Equal Protection Clause.
The Court repeated this nugget of jurisprudence in the NAACP's lawsuit to stop the creation of the CCID Court:
A mere political subdivision, Jackson is but "a subordinate unit of government created by the State to carry out delegated government functions" with "no priviliges or immunities under the federal constitution which it may invoke in opposition to the will of its creator. (Ysura v. Pocatello Educ. Assn), 555 U.S. 353, 363(2009).
The Court bounced the case back to Judge Reeves with a few instructions. However, the case returned to the Fifth Circuit after Judge Reeves tried to help the plaintiffs again.
A panel of three judges made it clear the Court was quite fed up with the case. The opinion opens:
For the fourth time, Mississippi state legislators appeal a district court order compelling discovery in an eight-year-old dispute over control of the Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport. For numerous reasons that have percolated throughout this litigation, we conclude that the current Plaintiffs, members of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, lack Article III standing to sue. Groundhog Day has come to an end. Accordingly, we VACATE the order of the district court and REMAND with instructions to dismiss.
The Court held it did not have to determine whether the legislators were subject to discovery because the plaintiffs lacked standing, thus rendering the question moot.
The Commissioners tried to claim they suffered injury because the bill replaces them as Commissioners overseeing the operation of Jackson's two airports. However, the Court said they did not allege personal injury from this "governmental restructuring." They were not "singled out" for unfair treatment. They are merely trying to stop the abolition of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority - an institutional injury.
The plaintiffs tried to argue they are employees because they receive per diem payments and travel reimbursements as Commissioners. Nice try, said the Court as it held such benefits do not convert a political appointment to a volunteer position into "an employer-employee relationship." Thus they have no "protected property interest" in these appointments and their perks. Thus no personal injury is suffered.
Driving the point home, the Court concluded:
This suit is nothing more than a political dispute between state and local governments over control of an airport and the land around it. One side has dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in equal protection colors. That won’t fly.”
The Court sent the case back to Judge Reeves with orders to dismiss the plaintiffs.
Mayor Lumumba and the Jackson City Council remain as plaintiffs.
The soon to be former plaintiffs may appeal the panel's opinion to the Fifth Circuit en banc.
Kingfish note: The Fifth Circuit made it abundantly clear it is both tired of the case and thinks the city is a creation of the state. Thus the state has the power to restructure local governments and agencies as it sees fit. Judge Reeves bears much responsibility for this mess. The plaintiffs raise an issue that has little chance of success. Judge Reeves rules in their favor. The state appeals to the Fifth Circuit. The Fifth Circuit reverses Judge Reeves. The plaintiffs conjure up another legal theory. Judge Reeves approves, the Fifth Circuit overturns, rinse repeat.
38 comments:
It is amazing how much constipation in our country has been "loosened up" since the election. The 5th Circuit just applied the proverbial bitch slap to the Judge Reeves. The airport is a mess, no other way around it. Good on the Legislature for having the forward thinking and intuition to make the needed changes.
Make The Airport Great Again!!
Why does Jackson have anything to do with this. The airport is in Rankin county.
The JMAA are experts at airport management. Afterall they attended all of those seminars and workshops at the Paris Air Show. Right?
Isn't Reeves the most reversed 5th Circuit judge in Mississippi?
8 years!
9:15 - because the Airport is incorporated into the City of Jackson boundaries. From the MS Free Press: "In 1964, the Mississippi Legislature created a statute allowing the capital city to incorporate the airport property into its municipality without Rankin County’s consent."
9:15, believe it or not, jackson annexed that part of Rankin County many years ago to build the airport. It actually is Jackson, MS.
Without state help the airport will die. Without state help Jackson will die. Without federal help Jackson would be dead. It’s time to give it up….Jackson can’t survive on its own. It’s not a booming metropolis…it’s a stagnant succubus whose leaders will soon be doing 10-15 years for being abject fraudulent crooks. Time for new real leaders
10:26, I agree with most of that. But I also fly 40-50 times per year and the Jackson airport is not on the list of things the state should be worrying about.
The city of Jackson is a total wreck. You can’t drive on the dilapidated roads. If you are in the city limits, you have the highest chance in the country of being murdered. That being said, I have been in many airports, and the Rankin county Jackson air port is one of the easiest to deal with from check in, baggage check, and baggage recovery etc. Of course, the fact that it is not in Hinds county Jackson Ms. Probably has a lot to do with it.
5th circuit called out Reeves, Jackson and the plaintiffs, again. Doesn't bother them - gum-flapping, grifting and grandstanding is their game.
It's time for some adults to take over Jackistan, including the airport. 1,000+ abandoned homes/businesses!
It's about damn time and even the Trumpsters ought to object to the waste of time and tax payer dollars for an obvious effort to take over Jackson entirely. Shame on you for "the Capitol District" which simply duplicates law enforcement jobs. The " second team" is nice enough but don't know the city nearly as well. I live in Jackson and I'll call JPD should I have a problem. They get here quicker and actually know how to find the right damn house!
That's Ultra-MAGA, deplorable garbage to you!
11:35. You are lucky if 911 answers in Jackson. That’s such a wonderful concept. Good for you because my experience with 911 in Jackson has been NO answer.
"In 1964, the Mississippi Legislature created a statute allowing the capital city to incorporate the airport property into its municipality without Rankin County’s consent."
Sounds like by that statute; the legislature can nullify and take back that annexation. Armchair lawyer at best speaking.
Don't Jackson's 9-1-1 operators double as servers in Chowke's executive dining room?
If the state takes over will they be allowed to attend the Paris Airshow also?
MDA already goes and when those employees go, it's real work. They don't even get much sleep because they have to travel an hour one way to the expo. Conversely, MDA sources said they never saw the JMAA people at the expo when they were on that trip.
And by the way, it was the late Carl Newman who tipped me off on that trip. ;-). So sorry.
I agree. Allowing an airport to decline is serious business. It's one thing to see a murder or two every day in Jackson, but one misstep at an airport could cost 250 lives all gone in an instant. The state is right to make sure the airport is properly managed.
It's well established that creations/agencies of the state ARE the state and when the state screws over one of it's own creations/agencies no amount of "discrimination" against itself changes that fact. That was established back in the Ayers lawsuit. If Jackson lacks the political clout in the legislature to prevent a screwing of Jackson as an entity.... it will be screwed. Sorry Reeves Sorry Jackson.
I'm ready for the day when the Jackson mayor's name doesn't appear on the airport sign (in HUGE letters, likely costing thousands). It's not necessary and is a flex he's not entitled to.
If that state takes over the airport will Chowke still get his kickback from the $7 luggage cart fees?
November 20, 2024 at 11:35 AM
Lol. LMAO. JPD doesn't respond to calls. Hell they don't even stop for fatal car crashes.
"In 1964, the Mississippi Legislature created a statute allowing the capital city to incorporate the airport property into its municipality without Rankin County’s consent."
Supposedly there was a gentleman's agreement at the time that if Rankin Co let Jxn build the airport there, Jxn wouldn't pursue any more annexation into Rankin Co.
"But I also fly 40-50 times per year and the Jackson airport is not on the list of things the state should be worrying about."
I fly out of JAN 2-3 times/year, easy parking, easy check in, easy security, easy pick up/drop off, easy to get around, easy baggage claim, etc. I never have a problem at the airport, but I don't buy stuff in airports, nor eat/drink in airports. I've never paid attention to the escalator.
great opinion by 5th circuit. Now lets see if Reeves actually dismisses. Groundhog day. That won't fly. Excellent
Sounds like people who actually fly realize that the airport is just fine. Of course that board needs to go, but quit exaggerating how dire the airport is.
If you don't need to eat, or use the bathroom, or have any disabilities, and don't leave your car there to be clouted, JAN is the cat's meow.
I flew out of the airport Thursday and returned Saturday. I parked on the 3rd level of the garage. The garage elevators were broken. Inside the airport it looks like its poorly maintained. Multiple sinks were broken in the men's restroom, which was not an isolated incident based on prior flights. How hard is it to get a plumber to fix sinks? Not hard.
When we returned Saturday it took 20 minutes to get out of the lot. Why? One payment lane was open and when people paid the gate wouldn't opened. Someone called airport police, who came and called someone who should have been working in the manned booth. Eventually someone showed up and we were able to pay and leave. Cars were backed up into the garage. I don't know how many cars were stuck in total, but it had to be at least 20.
Doesn't this remind others of the library, the zoo, the convention center, the water system, the roads, Thalia Mara and other city venues? If the city could run itself I would not support a state takeover of the airport. But ever since the crook Lumumba became mayor the city doesn't run. It may have run poorly in prior administrations, but now it doesn't run--period. The state has to step in and save the airport. Just like it did with the water system. A new mayor is coming, but its not going to be easy to repair the damage done by the Lumumba admin.
I actually fly. Alot. JAN is a dump.
JAN is a glorified regional airport.
Jackson's airport is actually pretty descent when you consider other cities of comparable size. The airport property remains an asset not a liability. If it wasn't the state would not want it. They didn't want to take over JPS did they?
@10:26, MS couldn't survive without federal help.
4:41's comment is all that needs to be said.
6:57 and 4:41 have not flown JAN since they went to the nursing home. I’ll say it again. The board is awful. Replace them. But the airport is pretty good. I just don’t want it to turn into Thalia Mara or Welty.
6:38 nails it. The state never wanted to step in and take the water system or the schools. Or the libraries. They just want the one thing that has value and is still working.
@4:41 here. You don't have a clue.
The airport used to be pretty good. Currently it's falling apart. If they can't fix broken sinks, elevators and escalators or get cars out of the parking garage---that's not pretty good. It's pretty damn bad.
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