Mississippi Court of Appeals Judge Jim Greenlee will retire from the bench on June 30, leaving a vacancy on the state’s 10-member appellate court.  

Greenlee, an Oxford resident, wrote a letter recently to Republican Gov. Tate Reeves informing him of his decision to retire from the state court and said it was a privilege to serve Mississippi citizens, the state and the justice system for over eight years. 

“It’s been a great privilege and honor to be here and work on these cases,” Greenlee said in a news release. “We are a court that has to give our attention and focus on (appeals of) what occurred in the trial courts and the state agency administrative appeals.”

Reeves will make an appointment to fill Greenlee’s vacancy, and a special election is expected to be scheduled for November 2026, according to a news release from the Administrative Office of the Courts. 

Judges on the Court of Appeals are elected from five districts across the state. Greenlee’s district is located in north Mississippi, so Reeves must appoint a replacement from that area. 

Greenlee’s retirement announcement bookends a long tenure in public life. President George W. Bush nominated him as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi in 2001 — a position he served in until 2010. 

Former Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Greenlee to a vacancy on the Court of Appeals in January 2016, after Bryant appointed former Court of Appeals Judge James D. Maxwell II to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Greenlee was elected twice without opposition.

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