The Mississippi Supreme Court this afternoon did not decide the pardons case. The rumor mill once again proves faulty.
On the other hand, they did cast aside (as opposed to decide) the Lafayette County Drug Court case, holding that the case is moot. Here’s an earlier post about the case.
The reason it is moot raises a substantial question about what the heck the appeal was about, anyway– the county appealed, and then, early this year (when the makeup of the Board of Supervisors had changed) asked the court to dismiss the case as moot because Lafayette County was no longer involved in drug court administration. The opinion by Judge Kitchens held the case moot. But the case is no more moot now than it was the day the county filed the notice of appeal, unless I’m missing something. I guess we should be glad they’ve come to their senses.
There are a couple of nuggets in the opinion worth remembering stating the law about the court’s ability to avoid dismissing a moot case when there is an issue of public concern, or where an issue evades review and is likely to recur, neither of which the court thought pertained here.
What else could the court do under the circumstances?
there was nothing else to do, except possibly dismiss the case without an opinion, which would be a wholly inadequate resolution.
My note that the case is no more moot now than when it was appealed is a criticism of the Board of Supervisors, not the court.