The State of the State: Observations of Law and Politics in Mississippi

Wednesday, November 28, 2012 - 11:23

It's been a while since Mississippi found itself in the middle of a full-on fight at the U.S. Supreme Court, but that drought may be destined to come to an end.

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Monday, November 26, 2012 - 09:01

The U.S. Supreme Court returns from the Thanksgiving holiday today to consider an enormously important labor law question: namely, what exactly a "supervisor" is under Title VII.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012 - 09:18

Late last month, we blogged about the Mississippi Supreme Court's continuing efforts to settle the question of when, if ever, Rule 702 permits a nurse to testify as a medical expert at trial. At the time, we speculated that continued wrangling should be expected because of Presiding Justice George Carlson's impending retirement.

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Monday, November 12, 2012 - 09:54

The state's judiciary continues to trudge into the information age, with the state's largest circuit court now partially accessible online, as Jimmie Gates of The Clarion-Ledger reports.

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Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - 11:18

Although the topic of judicial appointments hasn't come up much during this year's presidential campaign, it's a subject worth thinking about: three U.S. Supreme Court justices (Ginsburg, Scalia, and Kennedy) will celebrate their 80th birthdays during the next president's term, and a fourth (Breyer) will mark his 75th.

With that in mind, ProPublica's Suevon Lee takes a worthwhile look

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Friday, October 26, 2012 - 10:35

The Mississippi Supreme Court's struggle with a Rule 702 issue poured over into the criminal arena on Thursday in a decision that could carry implications for medical malpractice suits.

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Thursday, October 18, 2012 - 13:45

The Mississippi Supreme Court handed down a powerful reminder today that when it comes to establishing an objective standard of care in a medical malpractice case, words matter.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012 - 08:02

Of all the news coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court's oral argument in Fisher v.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 14:43

Mississippi court-watchers collectively turned their radars toward New Orleans on Monday, when -- as Clay Chandler of the Mississippi Business Journal reported -- the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals set a new briefing schedule in Sears, Roebuck, & Co. v. Learmouth.

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Monday, October 8, 2012 - 13:51

In a stunning article published on Sunday, The Clarion-Ledger reported that the City of Jackson has pumped 2.8 billion gallons of sewage into the Pearl River over the past four years. The City's infrastructure has deteriorated to the point that even the smallest rainfall leads to discharging waste water directly into the river -- as a matter of de facto policy, apparently.

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