RNC and Mississippi Republican Party file lawsuit to limit mail-in ballots for federal elections
The Republican National Committee and Mississippi Republican Party sued state officials in federal court to prevent election workers from counting some mail-in absentee ballots during the state’s upcoming presidential and congressional election.
The national and state GOP plaintiffs argue that a 2020 state law allowing local election workers to count mail-in absentee ballots for up to five days after the election date violates federal law because only Congress sets the timeframe for when votes can be processed. The Mississippi law currently permits election workers to count mail-in votes if the ballots were postmarked by the election date.
In 2020, the Republican supermajority state House passed the bill in question by a vote of 97-14, and the Republican supermajority Senate passed the bill by a vote of 31-14. It was then signed into law by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.
The plaintiffs, represented by former state GOP director Spencer Ritchie, argue that the five-day window should be suspended for all federal elections and only count mail-in absentee votes that arrive by Election Day.
“By holding voting open beyond the federal Election Day, Mississippi violates federal law and harms plaintiffs,” the RNC wrote in its complaint.
The state and national Republican Party also argued that voting by mail is “starkly polarized by party” because more Democrats than Republicans tend to vote by mail.
“That means the late-arriving mail-in ballots that are counted for five additional days disproportionately break for Democrats,” the GOP plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.
Secretary of State Michael Watson is a named defendant in the litigation because his agency oversees elections. His office declined to comment and referred questions to the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, which will represent the agency in court.
Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office, as of Wednesday morning, had not filed a formal response to the litigation. Her office declined to comment on the suit, citing its policy of not commenting on pending litigation.
U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr., the federal judge presiding over the case, has not yet issued any order.
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Life Lesson from Stranger Becomes New Year’s Resolution
I do not know about you but starting a new year, setting new goals, and staying focused can be stressful. If you are like me, the holidays packed my schedule and left me feeling exhausted. Then, suddenly, I was hit with a New Year and a strong desire to do things better.
Unfortunately, I am not alone when I share that I rarely finish the resolutions that I start – if I even try to make any. As the year and daily duties increase, I find myself on the same old path of a wild – dare I say, out of control – ride in life!
During the first sermon of the year, my pastor suggested choosing a single word to stick to. That seems simple and achievable, right?
What if all of us reading this article chose the word kindness? What difference might we make for our fellow mankind!
A co-worker, Choir Director Amy Twilley, was telling me about an experience with the people of Crystal Springs United Methodist Church and Baddour residents who participate in The Miracles, an audition choir.
Before the choir’s performance, the congregation collected bios and a Christmas wish list for each choir member, and they prayed and shopped for them. Even resident choir members were surprised. One told Amy she was amazed that strangers were so loving and kind and generous to them.
What a wonderful thought: to choose to be kind to people we do not know and may never see again. That warms my heart. Doesn’t it feel good when someone is kind to us?
Many of the men and women with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism who live at The Baddour Center have experienced difficulties throughout their lives, such as bullying or the inability to have meaningful employment. They know the opposite feeling of kindness.
I often say that the population we serve at Baddour are “my people” because they love big and make me feel like a rockstar whenever I arrive at work, a wonderful reprieve from the cruelty of the world.
For 2024, let’s not overcomplicate our New Year’s resolutions; let’s continue laughter and the generous spirit of the holidays that makes the season so bright and joyful.
Let’s learn from strangers and actively be kind to the people around us – whether we know them or not. Who will you show kindness to today?
From all of us at The Baddour Center, Happy New Year, and thank you to those of you who have been kind to residents of The Baddour Center throughout our 45-year history!
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Appeals court tosses ex-Jackson police detective’s manslaughter conviction
Mississippi’s appeals court reversed the manslaughter conviction of a former Jackson police officer who pulled a man from his car and slammed him to the ground, citing insufficient evidence.
The ruling also rendered an acquittal.
“The State concedes error in this issue,” reads Tuesday’s majority opinion written by Chief Justice Donna Barnes of the Mississippi Court of Appeals. “After review, we likewise conclude that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict.”
Justices Virginia Carlton, Jim Greenlee, Anthony Lawrence III and Joel Smith concurred and Justice Jack Wilson concurred in part. The remaining four justices dissented.
On Aug. 5, 2022, former detective Anthony Fox was found guilty of culpable-negligence manslaughter for the death of 62-year-old George Robinson. This came about two years after his indictment with two other officers for second degree murder. He received a 20-year prison sentence with 15 years suspended and five to serve, followed by five years probation.
In a Tuesday statement, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens II said he is disappointed in the court’s decision but is thankful for its careful consideration of the case.
“The Hinds County District Attorney’s Office’s goal in each case is to seek justice,” he said in the statement. “… While we carefully review the Court’s decision and evaluate the appropriate path forward, our thoughts and prayers are with the family of George Robinson.”
The evening Jan. 13, 2019, Fox was searching for a suspect involved in the shooting death of a local pastor. Officers were in the area of Jones Avenue when they encountered Robinson, who was hosting a barbeque at his home to celebrate his recent recovery from a stroke.
Two people approached Robinson’s car to ask for change to buy food. Fox testified that he thought they were engaging in a drug sale. Officers asked Robinson to get out of the car, and the man told officers he couldn’t move very fast and was trying to take his seatbelt off, according to court records.
Fox opened the door, grabbed the man and threw him to the ground – hitting Robinson’s head and resulting in bleeding. Officers called an ambulance, but then canceled the request for service before a paramedic arrived, according to court records.
The officer cited Robinson for disobeying police commands and resisting arrest, and then let him go. Robinson drove to see his girlfriend and lay down on the bed, and she left him to go to the store.
About 15 minutes after she returned, Robinson started to shake and foam at the mouth, according to court records. An ambulance came and took him to the hospital where doctors found a brain bleed and performed surgery on his head.
Robinson died Jan. 15, 2019. The state medical examiner testified that his cause of death was a homicide from at least three blunt injuries to the head.
The Court of Appeals agreed with Fox’s argument that there was insufficient evidence for a culpable negligence verdict and that the Hinds County Circuit Court acted improperly when it didn’t instruct the jury about a defense of “accident and misfortune.”
Culpable negligence would need to be supported by evidence that the victim’s death was a foreseeable result of the defendant’s actions., the court wrote. Medical evidence did not support how eyewitnesses described what happened to Robinson, the court wrote, noting how medical experts testified that Robinson would have had more injuries.
Robinson’s medical history including a history of strokes, hypertension and blood thinner medication also make it difficult to pinpoint whether the injuries caused by Robinson were the sole contributor to his death, the court wrote.
Taken altogether, the Court of Appeals found the eyewitnesses’ testimonies not to be credible, so they can’t be the basis for Fox’s conviction.
“The evidence does not support a finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Fox should have known that Robinson’s death was a probable result that he should have reasonably anticipated,” the court wrote.
The ruling comes less than six months after the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office made a similar argument and asked the court to reverse Fox’s conviction, saying Fox could not have reasonably foreseen that Robinson would die from “an everyday effort to subdue a resisting, non-compliant suspect using traditional non-lethal means.”
In a Tuesday statement, Attorney General Lynn Fitch said a wrong has been righted and Fox received the acquittal he deserves. She reiterated her support for law enforcement.
In his dissent, Justice John Emfinger said there was legally sufficient evidence to support the verdict, and the court must question whether Fox’s actions against Robinson were reasonable, such as why he took him out of the car or allowed his head to hit the pavement.
“If Fox did not have a reasonable suspicion that Robinson was involved in illegal activity, he had no lawful right to remove him from his vehicle,” he wrote. “Thus, any force that he used would be unreasonable.”
Justices Latrice Westbrooks, Deborah McDonald and David Neil McCarty joined the opinion.
However, Emfinger wrote the jury wasn’t properly instructed in some respects. In that case, he would reverse the conviction and ask the court to hold a new trial with proper instructions.
In its statement, the Hinds County district attorney’s office said it followed the law and that the jurors were instructed on the law.
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Mississippi Stories: Saving the Sun-n-Sand Sign with Scott Allen
Scott Allen, owner of A Plus Signs in Jackson, joins Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey for a discussion about the restoration of the historic Sun-N-Sand Hotel sign.
The Sun-N-Sand was a mid-century modern hotel near the Mississippi State Capitol that hosted both legislators and civil rights leaders from 1960-2001. Placed on an endangered list in 2020, part of the hotel was torn down. However, the restaurant and sign were both saved and restored.
Scott talks about the team effort it took for the restoration, with several other companies pitching in to rebuild the iconic sign. He also praises his team at A Plus — it was truly team effort!
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On this day in 1847
Jan. 27, 1847
More than 100 citizens of Marshall, Michigan, helped Adam Crosswhite, his wife, Sarah, and their children, who had escaped slavery, to flee to Canada rather than be captured by bounty hunters.
Three years earlier, Crosswhite and his family had fled a Kentucky plantation after learning one of his four children was going to be sold. They traveled on the Underground Railroad through Indiana and Illinois before winding up in Michigan.
At 4 a.m., bounty hunters broke into the home of Crosswhite and his family, telling them they were being taken back to Kentucky. Before that could happen, hordes of citizens intervened. When the bounty hunters offered to take the children only, the couple refused. The sheriff’s office then arrived and arrested the bounty hunters for trespassing, enabling the Crosswhite family to escape to Canada.
Later, the slaveholder sued seven Black and white Marshall citizens who intervened and won $1,926, which with court costs totalled nearly $6,000 (more than $211,000 today).
Citizens of the town rallied, raised the money and adopted a resolution that said, “We will never voluntarily separate ourselves from the slave population in the country, for they are our fathers and mothers, and sisters and our brothers, their interest is our interest, their wrongs and their sufferings are ours, the injuries inflicted on them are alike inflicted on us; therefore it is our duty to aid and assist them in their attempts to regain their liberty.”
An abolitionist journal at the time, The Signal of Liberty, wrote, “If the slaveholder has the right to seize a fugitive from slavery in a free State, let him appeal to the proper tribunals to maintain that right, instead of midnight seizure, backed by a display of bowie knives and seven shooters.”
After the Civil War ended, Crosswhite and his family returned to Marshall. A monument now marks the place where they made their courageous stand.
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Will Rogers looks to turn adversity into happy ending at Washington
“The worst thing that happens to you might be the best thing for you if you don’t let it get the best of you.”
Will Rogers, the famous American writer and humorist, wrote those words of wisdom back in the early 20th century. Will Rogers, the record-setting college football quarterback and Brandon native, would do well to take the message to heart a century or so later.
Rogers, the quarterback, is overdue for something good to happen. These last 13 months have been trying times, to put it mildly. It’s been more or less like a prolonged quarterback sack.
Put yourself in young Rogers’ shoes back in early December 2022. He had thrown for more yards and touchdowns than any Mississippi quarterback ever at the highest level of college football. No quarterback in Southeastern Conference history had completed more passes.
Then, on Dec. 12, 2022, Mike Leach, Rogers’ head coach at Mississippi State, died.
“It’s been tough,” Rogers said not even three weeks later, after helping State defeat Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl at Tampa. “Coach and I were so close and to lose a coach like that, a friend like that it hurt … it will continue to hurt.”
Wyatt Rogers, Will’s father and a Brandon high school football coach, says Zach Arnett, Leach’s successor, promised his son the plan was to keep Leach’s Air Raid offense.
“(Arnett) flat-out lied to us, sitting in our den,” Wyatt Rogers said. “He said they would be crazy to change offenses after all the success we had had…”
But change the offense was exactly what Arnett did, scrapping the Air Raid for a pro-style offense that rarely clicked. And then, in the sixth game of the season, against Western Michigan, Rogers suffered a shoulder injury that would sideline him for the next four games.
“Nobody is ever promised a life without scars, but that was tough,” Wyatt Rogers said.
State finished 5-7, losing to Ole Miss 17-7 in Will Rogers’ last game as a Bulldog. Immediately, he entered the NCAA transfer portal.
Will’s adventure was only beginning. After being courted by several schools, Rogers settled on Washington, where Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer recruited him to be the successor to Michael Penix Jr. Penix had led Washington to the national championship game. Rogers really liked DeBoer, enjoyed his visit to Seattle and looked forward to quarterbacking the Huskies in their first season in the Big Ten. “They throw the ball around a lot like we did my first three years at State,” Rogers said.
But then DeBoer took the Alabama job, and Rogers was back at square one. Not knowing who would take DeBoer’s place and whether the new coach would bring in his own quarterback, Rogers re-entered the portal on Jan. 12. Alabama, Miami, South Carolina, Western Kentucky and even national champion Michigan all became possibilities. And there were others, Iowa and Northwestern among them.
“The clock was ticking fast,” Wyatt Rogers said. “If Will was going to go through spring training at his new school, he had to make a move.”
The father and son met with Jedd Fisch, the coach Washington hired from Arizona, and with Brennan Carroll, Pete Carroll’s son, who will be the Huskies’ offensive coordinator. The Rogerses liked what they heard. Fisch very much wanted for Will to remain at Washington.
And so he will. Rogers made the announcement Tuesday night on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Fisch’s offense is not exactly the Air Raid, but it uses many of the same concepts. At Arizona, his teams threw the ball on nearly three-quarters of their plays and averaged more than 300 yards passing per game. And Fisch has 13 years of NFL coaching experience, something that factored heavily in Will Rogers’ decision.
In an interview with ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Rogers said, “Coach Fisch told me, ‘I want to treat you like a professional football player.’ I told him that’s what I want, and that’s what I am looking to do.”
Wyatt Rogers is pleased, even if his son will live and play all the way across the continent.
“It’s time to put all that other stuff behind him,” Wyatt Rogers said. “I think he’s learned some valuable lessons, not just about football but about life. I just want him to enjoy this last year of college football, see another part of the country, meet new people, play in new stadiums, enjoy the experience.”
Will already has his degree from Mississippi State. He is taking graduate classes at Washington and already going through winter workouts with his new teammates and coaches.
Said Wyatt Rogers, “Will’s had the rug jerked out from under him more than once in the last year or so. I told him it’s time to put blinders on and go to work. I believe that’s just what he will do.”
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