CNN Newsroom: State Rep. Robert Johnson (D-MS) Discusses GOP Pushing "Takeover" Of Majority-Black Jackson
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Thank you for having me, Victor.
The reason it's wrong - and let me correct something about the backlog. There is a backlog but there are jurisdictions in this state that have a greater backlog than Jackson, a higher number.
And there is no provision - but they're in counties that are majority white and districts that are majority white. And they have not suggested one time that they will appoint judges.
Let me point out, the reason it's wrong, is because the constitution of the state of Mississippi, Article VI, Section 153, expressly says that judges shall be appointed.
And furthermore, we have a provision, a way, if you want, to have more judges to handle this backlog. We do it every year. We have people come and request additional judges.
This county, this district has requested additional judges to be elected and they have been turned down and denied at every turn.
And so this is just a racist, unconstitutional power grab.
There is a solution. You just don't do it by coming in and taking over a city that you've tried to choke the life out of up until this point.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Look, the other thing I'd like to point out too is there have been - go ahead.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
All right, I'm done. You ask the question.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Well, equal protection under the law is always better.
Segregating people and carving out a portion where you have a part of the city that will warrant more investment and more attention than the other part and just ignore the problems and the issues that you have in the other part of the city is never a good solution.
So if I had to choose - but trust me, there is nothing good about either of these bills. They both don't meet constitutional muster. And this is something we have to continue to fight.
We're continuing to try to talk to other legislators, the leadership in this House and Senate, and encourage them to look back on the pieces of legislation that have been introduced to address this problem.
This is a money problem. This is a problem that they can't solve even by their appointments without spending money.
We have $3.9 billion in the bank. We could help with the water system. We could help with the crime backlog. We could hire more policemen.
We could do all of these things without taking over the city and robbing these citizens of their constitutional right to elect their leaders.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
It would be different in the sense that, under this bill, the Supreme Court justice would appoint those judges. And they still would do that and he currently does that.
But the distribution of cases, where the cases would go are assigned by a senior judge. Under CCID, they would not be under the authority of the senior judge in the Seventh Circuit. They would simply answer to the Supreme Court justice and the state's court system.
And that - under this system, that would exist now, that we did to address the backlog caused by Covid, that was something that the district judges here in the county had authority over. This deal doesn't give them that authority.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source