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14 May, 14 tweets, 4 min read
THREAD: The MS Supreme Court today invalidated Initiative 65 by stripping voters of our right to ballot initiatives, holding by a 6-3 vote that voters can only pursue ballot initiatives when MS has five or more Congressional districts.

Opinion: courts.ms.gov/Images%5COpini… 1/
The vote does not follow partisan/ideological lines, as MS's two liberal justices—Justice King voted to invalidate Initiative 65, whereas Justice Kitchens voted to uphold it.

Two of MS's seven conservative justices voted to uphold Initiative 65. 2/
Mississippi voters overwhelmingly adopted Initiative 65 in November to make medical marijuana legal in Mississippi. 3/
ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_Ba…
Today's decision will likely invalidate two further ballot initiatives overwhelmingly adopted by voters prior to Initiative 65, including Mississippi's voter ID amendment... 4/
ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_Vo…
...and Mississippi's amendment restricting use of eminent domain, as Mississippi had only four Congressional districts when those amendments were adopted also. 5/
ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_Vo…
The complete list of past and currently proposed ballot initiatives in Mississippi is here: sos.ms.gov/Elections-Voti… 6/
Today's decision will kill ballot initiatives currently underway to:

➡️ Vote on MS's state flag
➡️ Adopt term limits
➡️ Expand Medicaid
➡️ Legalize recreational marijuana
➡️ Allow early voting 7/
The MS Supreme Court wrote in 1991:

"The black people and women of this state have never had a say in whether Mississippi will be an [initiative and referendum] state. They should." casetext.com/case/state-ex-… 8/
The following year, the #MSleg proposed Section 273 of the MS Constitution, granting and enshrining voters' right to conduct ballot initiatives.

Mississippi voters then adopted Section 273, which the MS Supreme Court today holds to be inoperable. 9/
It is rather ironic that this opinion from the Missi "States Rights" Ssippi Supreme Court places the validity of ballot initiatives directly under federal control. 10/
Whether MS voters can pursue initiatives now depends on how many Congressional districts we have, and Congress decides how many House seats there are. 11/
For example, if Congress increased the size of the House from 435 seats to 535 seats, then ballot initiatives would become valid again in Mississippi. 12/
This aged well. 13/
This is Mayor @SheaDobson (R) of Ocean Springs, MS. 14/
facebook.com/212800818/vide…

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More from @jallen1985

MAKE THEM SPEAK ON THE FLOOR TO FILIBUSTER Profile picture
15 May
THREAD: Below is a list of constitutional amendments that have been proposed in the #MSleg over the years to amend Mississippi's ballot initiative process in conformity with our four Congressional seats. 1/
HCR 43 (2002), introduced by former Rep./current Sen. @JoeyFillingane, was the first such bill. billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2002/pdf/histo… 2/
Former Rep. John Mayo introduced HCR 58 (2003). billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2003/pdf/histo… 3/
Read 10 tweets
MAKE THEM SPEAK ON THE FLOOR TO FILIBUSTER Profile picture
15 May
QUICKTHREAD: Three bills in the #MSleg would have preserved Mississippi's initiative process, and all three died. 1/
My favorite is @LeeYanceyMS's HC 3,* which would have changed the signature-collection framework to automatically adjust to the number of Congressional districts Mississippi has at any time.

*billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2021/pdf/histo… 2/
Speaker @PhilipGunnMS referred Yancey's bill to the MS House constitution committee, where it died.

I infer that @FredShanks, who chairs the committee, killed Yancey's bill by not bringing it to a vote before the committee. 3/
Read 7 tweets
MAKE THEM SPEAK ON THE FLOOR TO FILIBUSTER Profile picture
15 May
Senator McDaniel made many, repeated appearances with the group supporting Initiative 74 (new flag vote).

McDaniel made so many appearances, in fact, that one might have thought that group was intended more to build a campaign apparatus for McDaniel than to pass an initiative...
So, anywho...it seems odd that McDaniel's had nothing to say about the court's decision yesterday chucking all pending initiatives.

All he's said is a vague reference to backroom deals and...is that a dog-whistle about violently overthrowing the government? Image
@ashtonpittman I hope y'all will be reaching out to McDaniel about his views on restoring the initiative process, considering his many...
fb.watch/5vPRXC_zPO/
Read 5 tweets
MAKE THEM SPEAK ON THE FLOOR TO FILIBUSTER Profile picture
15 May
THREAD: The #MSleg should go further than enacting medical marijuana and putting a constitutional amendment to the voters to fix our 5-district ballot initiative framework.

It should also put all of the issues for which initiatives were filed or announced on the 2022 ballot. 1/
☑️ Recreational marijuana
☑️ Medicaid expansion
☑️ Early voting

The #MSleg should put questions on the 2022 ballot to determine whether MS voters support or oppose legalizing recreational marijuana, expanding Medicaid, and allowing early voting. 2/
These three ballot measures not have to be constitutional amendments—they can simply be non-binding referendums, the same way the #MSleg asked voters whether we approved the flag design adopted by the 2020 flag commission. 3/
Read 14 tweets
MAKE THEM SPEAK ON THE FLOOR TO FILIBUSTER Profile picture
14 May
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act passed by a vote of 315-101. @CongPalazzo & @RepMichaelGuest both voted against the bill, and @RepTrentKelly did not vote at all.

clerk.house.gov/evs/2021/roll1…
A few weeks ago, the House passed a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act by a vote of 244-172. @CongPalazzo & @RepTrentKelly both voted against that bill, and @RepMichaelGuest did not vote on it at all.

clerk.house.gov/evs/2021/roll0…
Assuming no significant changes to Mississippi's Congressional map, Larry, Curly, & Moe—ahem, Palazzo, Kelly, & Guest—will NOT lose to a Democrat, but they CAN lose if more civilized Republicans run against them as independents.
Read 4 tweets
MAKE THEM SPEAK ON THE FLOOR TO FILIBUSTER Profile picture
14 May
Many elected Mississippi Republicans who support criminal justice reform like @bricewigginsMS and @Sparks4Senate, as well as conservative advocates like @grantcallen, argued this year against the same sort of policies Hyde-Smith now sponsors. 1/
CHS's proposed "Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act"—in order to restore a code section ruled unconstitutional by Antonin Scalia—would impose 15-year mandatory minimum sentences for possession of a firearm by a felon with three significant prior convictions. 2/
Creating new mandatory minimum sentences is a one-size-fits-all approach—which is not a conservative approach—which strips courts of the power to consider unintended consequences and exigent circumstances that can make lengthy sentences inappropriate in particular cases. 3/
Read 10 tweets

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