MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Judiciary

By: Senator(s) Tollison

AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNOR TO FILL JUDICIAL VACANCIES; TO PROVIDE FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE; TO PROVIDE FOR OFFICERS OF THE COMMITTEE; TO PROVIDE FOR SUBCOMMITTEES; TO SPECIFY THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMITTEE AND ITS SUBCOMMITTEES; TO PRESCRIBE STANDARDS FOR NOMINEES; TO AMEND SECTION 25-41-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO EXEMPT THE MISSISSIPPI ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS AND ITS SUBCOMMITTEES FROM THE DEFINITION OF PUBLIC BODY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. There is hereby created the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations. The committee shall, as hereinafter provided in this act, receive applications from and nominate persons who are qualified and eligible to fill vacancies in the Mississippi Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and in the various chancery, circuit and county courts.

SECTION 2. (1) The committee shall consist of nineteen (19) members who shall be appointed in the following manner:

(a) The Governor shall make the following appointments:

(i) One (1) member who is not an attorney and one (1) member who is a member of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association who are residents of the First Supreme Court District;

(ii) One (1) member who is a member of The Mississippi Bar and one (1) member who is a member of the Magnolia Bar Association who are residents of the Second Supreme Court District;

(iii) One (1) member who is a member of The Mississippi Bar and one (1) member who is a member of the Mississippi Prosecutor's Association who are residents of the Third Supreme Court District;

(b) The Lieutenant Governor shall make the following appointments:

(i) One (1) member who is not an attorney and one (1) member who is a member of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association who are residents of the Second Supreme Court District;

(ii) One (1) member who is a member of The Mississippi Bar and one (1) member who is a member of the Magnolia Bar Association who are residents of the Third Supreme Court District;

(iii) One (1) member who is a member of The Mississippi Bar and one (1) member who is a member of the Mississippi Prosecutor's Association who are residents of the First Supreme Court District;

(c) The Speaker of the House shall make the following appointments:

(i) One (1) member who is not an attorney and one (1) member who is a member of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association who are residents of the Third Supreme Court District;

(ii) One (1) member who is a member of The Mississippi Bar and one (1) member who is a member of the Magnolia Bar Association who are residents of the First Supreme Court District;

(iii) One (1) member who is a member of The Mississippi Bar and one (1) member who is a member of the Mississippi Prosecutor's Association who are residents of the Second Supreme Court District.

The appointing authorities shall endeavor to create and to maintain a nominating committee whose membership is not limited to a particular race, gender or interest group. The Governor shall appoint one (1) of the members as chairperson. Appointment as chairperson shall be for a period of one (1) year, and, except for the initial appointment, each person appointed chairperson shall have served on the committee for at least one (1) year. During the period of time when a member is serving as chairperson, the Governor shall appoint one (1) additional committee member who shall be a resident of the chairperson's state Supreme Court district and who will serve only during the tenure of such chairperson.

(2) At the initial meeting of the committee, the members shall set their terms' expiration so that the terms of members shall be as follows:

(a) Two (2) members from each state Supreme Court district shall serve for two (2) years each;

(b) Two (2) members from each state Supreme Court district shall serve for one (1) year each; and

(c) Two (2) members from each state Supreme Court district shall serve for three (3) years each. Thereafter, all appointments shall be for terms of three (3) years each. An appointment to fill any vacancy due to the death, resignation or disability of a member shall be for the unexpired term only. No member shall be eligible for reappointment to the committee for a period of one (1) year after the date on which his or her term ends.

(3) No member of the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations shall be eligible for appointment to judicial office during his or her service on the committee or for a period of one (1) year after the date on which his or her term on the committee ends.

SECTION 3. The Governor shall designate a secretary to the committee who may or may not be a member of the committee and who shall be responsible for maintaining the records of the committee.

SECTION 4. Each group of six (6) committee members who are residents of the same state Supreme Court district shall constitute a subcommittee of the committee and shall be designated with the number of the Supreme Court district in which they reside. The Chairperson of the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations shall appoint the chairperson of each such subcommittee from the subcommittee members who are practicing attorneys.

SECTION 5. (1) Whenever a vacancy occurs in a chancery, circuit or county judgeship, the chair of the committee, upon knowledge of a vacancy or notice from the Governor, shall call a meeting of the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations' subcommittee in whose state Supreme Court district the vacancy occurs. The subcommittee shall meet to seek, receive and review applications and other information concerning the qualifications and eligibility of proposed nominees for such vacant judgeship. A vacancy shall be deemed to have occurred when the Governor has been notified that the term of office of a judge has been terminated by resignation or otherwise at a specified future date.

The subcommittee shall notify The Mississippi Bar, the county or local bar association within the appropriate judicial jurisdiction where the vacancy exists, and any other professional or citizens' organizations deemed appropriate by the subcommittee; and, in such notification, the subcommittee shall relate the existence of the vacancy and solicit nominations therefor. The subcommittee may receive nominations from any interested citizens and groups.

(2) Not less than thirty (30) days after the initial meeting of the subcommittee as provided in subsection (1) of this section or immediately at the call of the Governor, whichever comes first, the full Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations shall meet, evaluate subcommittee recommendations and select, by a majority vote of its entire membership, prospective nominees whom it finds fully qualified for judicial office. From among those found fully qualified, the committee shall designate three (3) nominees for each judicial vacancy; however, if the jurisdiction in which the vacancy exists has fewer than forty (40) actively practicing attorneys as shown by the most recent judicial records of The Mississippi Bar, then the committee may designate less than three (3) nominees.

SECTION 6. Whenever a vacancy occurs on the state Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals, the procedure shall be generally as provided in Section 5 of this act except that the full committee, rather than a subcommittee, shall seek, receive and review proposed nominees, and five (5) nominees shall be designated for each vacancy.

SECTION 7. No prospective nominee shall be found "fully qualified" for judicial office by a subcommittee or the committee as a whole unless he is found to have the following qualifications:

(a) It must affirmatively appear that the prospective nominee possesses all of the qualifications established by law for the judicial office involved; and

(b) It must affirmatively appear that the prospective nominee possesses the personal qualities and attributes of character and experience, judicial temperament, professional competence and other personal characteristics essential to the judgeship involved and necessary to fully qualify a person to serve the public as a judicial officer; and that he or she, if nominated and appointed, will fairly administer justice without respect to any person's race, color, sex, religion or national origin, will administer justice equally to the poor and the rich, and will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all duties incumbent upon the judicial office according to the best of the applicant's ability and understanding, in accordance with the Constitution, laws and treaties of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the State of Mississippi.

SECTION 8. Not less than ten (10) days after the meeting authorized in Section 5(2) and Section 6 of this act, the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations shall transmit to the Governor, in alphabetical sequence, those nominees it is designating to fill a particular judicial vacancy. If approval of such nominees shall be rejected by the Governor or shall notify the Governor of their unwillingness or inability to accept appointment, the Governor may request the committee to designate additional nominees. No permanent appointment shall be made until the Governor receives the nominations of the committee or before the expiration of sixty (60) days, whichever occurs first.

SECTION 9. (1) With the approval of the Governor, the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations may adopt such operating rules, forms and notices as it deems necessary and as are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

(2) All applications and information received from or concerning nominees and all proceedings of the committee or a subcommittee thereof shall be confidential.

SECTION 10. Nothing in this act shall be construed as an impairment or delegation of the constitutional and statutory duties or prerogatives of the Governor with respect to the filling of judicial vacancies by appointment. The right to reject any or all of the nominees recommended pursuant to this act is reserved to the Governor.

SECTION 11. Section 25-41-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-41-3. For purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the meaning ascribed herein, to wit:

(a) "Public body" shall mean: (i) any executive or administrative board, commission, authority, council, department, agency, bureau or any other policy-making entity, or committee thereof, of the State of Mississippi, or any political subdivision or municipal corporation of the state, whether such entity be created by statute or executive order, which is supported wholly or in part by public funds or expends public funds, and (ii) any standing, interim or special committee of the Mississippi Legislature. There shall be exempted from the provisions of this chapter the judiciary, including all jury deliberations, public and private hospital staffs, public and private hospital boards and committees thereof, law enforcement officials, the military, the State Probation and Parole Board, the Workers' Compensation Commission, the Mississippi Advisory Committee on Judicial Nominations and its subcommittees, legislative subcommittees and legislative conference committees, and license revocation, suspension and disciplinary proceedings held by the Mississippi State Board of Dental Examiners.

(b) "Meeting" shall mean an assemblage of members of a public body at which official acts may be taken upon a matter over which the public body has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power.

SECTION 12. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.