Roger McMillin is not a natural campaigner. He is a courtly, reserved man who prefers working in the background to find pragmatic legal solutions. However, he is now in a race that is unusual for the amount of money being spent by some special interests. McMillin is the chief judge of Mississippi’s Court of Appeals-also known as the “Workhorse Court.” The court gets its reputation for the sheer volume of cases it handles. Since McMillin joined the court in 1994, he has participated in over 4,700 decisions. But there are those who are trying hard to make sure he doesn’t have a hand in any more.
McMillin is running for his third term from the Appeals Court’s 1st District. The district mirrors the 1st Congressional District, which is represented by Roger Wicker (R-Tupelo).
Unfortunately, McMillin is up for re-election at a time when trial attorneys are attempting to turn the Magnolia State’s legal system into a cash cow for themselves. Every judicial race in the entire state, from the Supreme Court on down, features a candidate funded at ridiculous levels by the trial lawyers.
When examining the campaign finance reports for these races (available on the Secretary of State’s Web site, www.mississippi.gov), interesting facts emerge. For example, in the McMillin-Ralph Doxey race, Doxey’s campaign, on one day, June 25, received $12,000 from employees of the Langston Law Firm.
This calls for an explanation. First, all persons, businesses and PACs (political action committees) are limited to $5,000 contributions per election cycle. The Langston firm skirted the law by having individual employees and their spouses donate $3,000 each.
Putting my tongue firmly in cheek, I must compliment the Langston firm on how handsomely it pays its employees. It’s impressive when even spouses can donate so generously to a campaign.
What the employees and associates of the firm are doing is technically legal. However, it mocks the spirit of the campaign finance law. The purpose of the law is to prevent a small group of people from having a disproportionate influence on a potential public servant. If Doxey is elected to the Court of Appeals, it will be due in a large part to the firm’s generosity. The question is, will the Langston Firm be able to exercise undue influence on the Appeals Court?
The Langston Firm is headed by Joey Langston, a well-known and extraordinarily successful trial attorney. His brother, Shane, is also a successful trial attorney at a separate firm in Jackson. Shane is also past president of the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association.
Both have earned their wealth by suing, among others, doctors and insurance companies. Consequently, both have a significant stake in how the Legislature handles civil justice reform and how judges will interpret the new laws, assuming the Legislature passes them.
One can only guess at the firm’s motives. The smart money says that it has something to do with putting a judge on the bench who is sympathetic to trial lawyers and would interpret the new civil justice laws loosely. One thing is clear-the Langston brothers want McMillin off the Appeals Court.
McMillin represents the last vestiges of judicial restraint in Mississippi jurisprudence. He is a lifelong Union County resident and Navy veteran. The GI bill paid his way through Mississippi State University and Memphis State Law School. He practiced law for 18 years in New Albany and has held leadership positions in every significant community organization in the area. He was also New Albany’s city attorney for 12 years.
While on the Appeals Court, McMillin helped eliminate the two-year backlog on cases and reduced the amount of time a case stays on the docket to roughly nine months, which is astonishing, considering the Appeals Court’s wide jurisdiction.
To give one sign of the respect for McMillin in the legal community, he was elevated to chief judge in 1999 by then-Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court, Lenore Prather.
He is, in short, a model public servant and exactly the kind of man who should lead one of Mississippi’s most important courts. However, the Langstons want to sink McMillin’s campaign by giving a large amount of cash to his opponent.
Pay close attention to the results of this election in November. It may not be the race garnering the most press attention, but it is one of the most important races for the immediate future of Mississippi’s legal system.
Wilson Boyd is a senior economics major.