MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Judiciary A; Apportionment and Elections

By: Representative Reeves

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 9-4-5, 23-15-973, 23-15-975 AND 23-15-977, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT JUDGES OF THE COURT OF APPEALS SHALL BE APPOINTED AT THE END OF THE CURRENT TERMS AND EVERY EIGHT YEARS THEREAFTER; TO REPEAL SECTION 9-4-15, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES THE TIME FOR HOLDING ELECTIONS FOR THE OFFICE OF JUDGE OF THE COURT OF APPEALS; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-607 AND 23-15-849, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 9-4-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

9-4-5. (1) The term of office of judges of the Court of Appeals shall be eight (8) years. An election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 1994, to elect the ten (10) judges of the Court of Appeals, two (2) from each congressional district. The judges of the Court of Appeals shall begin service on the first Monday of January 1995. At the end of the current terms of the judges of the Court of Appeals, the Governor shall appoint a successor who shall serve for a term of eight (8) years and successors shall be appointed from thereafter as provided in this section.

(2) (a) In order to provide that the offices of not more than a majority of the judges of the court shall become vacant at any one (1) time, the terms of office of six (6) of the judges first to be elected shall expire in less than eight (8) years. For the purpose of all elections and subsequent appointments of members of the court, each of the ten (10) judges of the Court of Appeals shall be considered a separate office. The two (2) offices in each of the five (5) congressional districts shall be designated Position Number 1 and Position Number 2 * * *.

(i) In Congressional District Number 1, the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 1 shall be that office for which the term ends January 1, 1999, and the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 2 shall be that office for which the term ends January 1, 2003.

(ii) In Congressional District Number 2, the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 1 shall be that office for which the term ends on January 1, 2003, and the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 2 shall be that office for which the term ends January 1, 2001.

(iii) In Congressional District Number 3, the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 1 shall be that office for which the term ends on January 1, 2001, and the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 2 shall be that office for which the term ends January 1, 1999.

(iv) In Congressional District Number 4, the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 1 shall be that office for which the term ends on January 1, 1999, and the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 2 shall be that office for which the term ends January 1, 2003.

(v) In Congressional District Number 5, the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 1 shall be that office for which the term ends on January 1, 2003, and the judge of the Court of Appeals for Position Number 2 shall be that office for which the term ends January 1, 2001.

 * * *

(b) In the year before the expiration of the term of an incumbent, and likewise each eighth year thereafter, an appointment shall be made by the Governor in the congressional district from which the incumbent Court of Appeals judge was elected or appointed at which there shall be appointed a successor to the incumbent, whose term of office shall thereafter begin on the first Monday of January of the year in which the term of the incumbent he succeeds expires.

(3) No person shall be eligible for the office of judge of the Court of Appeals who has not attained the age of thirty (30) years at the time of his appointment and who has not been a practicing attorney and citizen of the state for five (5) years immediately preceding the election.

(4) Any vacancy on the Court of Appeals shall be filled by appointment of the Governor for that portion of the unexpired term before the appointment to fill the remainder of the term * * *. SECTION 2. Section 23-15-973, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-973. It shall be the duty of the judges of the circuit court to give a reasonable time and opportunity to the candidates for the office of judge of the Supreme Court, * * * circuit judge and chancellor to address the people during court terms. In order to give further and every possible emphasis to the fact that the said judicial offices are not political but are to be held without favor and with absolute impartiality as to all persons, and because of the jurisdiction conferred upon the courts by this chapter, the judges thereof should be as far removed as possible from any political affiliations or obligations. It shall be unlawful for any candidate for any of the offices mentioned in this section to align himself with any candidate or candidates for any other office or with any political faction or any political party at any time during any primary or general election campaign. Likewise it shall be unlawful for any candidate for any other office nominated or to be nominated at any primary election, wherein any candidate for any of the judicial offices in this section mentioned, is or are to be nominated, to align himself with any one or more of the candidates for the offices or to take any part whatever in any nomination for any one or more of the judicial offices, except to cast his individual vote. Any candidate for any office, whether nominated with or without opposition, at any primary wherein a candidate for any one of the judicial offices * * * mentioned in this section is to be nominated who shall deliberately, knowingly and willfully violate the provisions of this section shall forfeit his nomination, or if elected at the following general election by virtue of the nomination, his election shall be void.

SECTION 3. Section 23-15-975, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-975. As used in Sections 23-15-974 through 23-15-985 of this subarticle, the term "judicial office" includes the office of justice of the Supreme Court, * * * circuit judge, chancellor, county court judge and family court judge. All * * * justices and judges shall be full-time positions and * * * justices and judges shall not engage in the practice of law before any court, administrative agency or other judicial or quasi-judicial forum except as provided by law for finalizing pending cases after election to judicial office.

SECTION 4. Section 23-15-977, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-977. (1) All candidates for judicial office as defined in Section 23-15-975 of this subarticle shall file their intent to be a candidate with the proper officials not later than the first Friday after the first Monday in May before the general election for judicial office and shall pay to the proper officials the following amounts:

(a) Candidates for Supreme Court judge * * *, the sum of Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00).

(b) Candidates for circuit judge and chancellor, the sum of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).

(c) Candidates for county judge and family court judge, the sum of Fifteen Dollars ($15.00).

(2) Candidates for judicial offices listed in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) of this section shall file their intent to be a candidate with, and pay the proper assessment made pursuant to subsection (1) of this section to, the State Board of Election Commissioners.

(3) Candidates for judicial offices listed in paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section shall file their intent to be a candidate with, and pay the proper assessment made pursuant to subsection (1) of this section to, the circuit clerk of the proper county. The circuit clerk shall notify the county commissioners of election of all persons who have filed their intent to be a candidate * * * with, and paid the proper assessment to the clerk. The notification shall occur within two (2) business days and shall contain all necessary information.

SECTION 5. Section 23-15-607, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-607. The commissioners of election * * *, within ten (10) days after an election for judges of the Supreme Court * * *, shall transmit to the Secretary of State, to be filed in his office, a statement of the whole number of votes given in their county for each candidate for the office of judge of the Supreme Court * * *, and the Secretary of State shall immediately notify each member of the State Board of Election Commissioners in writing to assemble at his office on a day to be fixed by him, to be within ten (10) days after the receipt by him of the statement, and when assembled pursuant to the notice the State Board of Election Commissioners shall sum up the whole number of votes given for each candidate for judge of the Supreme Court * * *, ascertain the person or persons to be elected; and thereupon all persons chosen to the office at the election shall be commissioned by the Governor; but if it appears that two (2) or more candidates for judge of the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals standing highest on the list, and not elected, have an equal number of votes, the election shall be forthwith decided between the candidates having an equal number of votes by lots, fairly and publicly drawn under the direction of the State Board of Election Commissioners.

SECTION 6. Section 23-15-849, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-849. (1) Vacancies in the office of judge of the Supreme Court * * * or circuit judge, or chancellor, shall be filled for the unexpired term by the qualified electors at the next regular election for state officers or for representatives in Congress occurring more than nine (9) months after the existence of the vacancy to be filled, and the term of office of the person elected to fill a vacancy shall commence on the first Monday in January following his election. Upon the occurring of * * * a vacancy, the Governor shall appoint a qualified person from the district in which the vacancy exists to hold the office and discharge the duties thereof until the vacancy shall be filled by election as * * * provided in this section.

(2) Elections to fill vacancies in the office of judge of the Supreme Court * * * shall be held, conducted, returned and the persons elected commissioned in accordance with the law governing regular elections for judges of the Supreme Court * * * insofar as they may be applicable.

SECTION 7. Section 9-4-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the time for holding elections for the office of judge of the Court of Appeals, is repealed.

SECTION 8. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is directed to submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.