The Mississippi Justice Institute (MJI) filed a lawsuit on Monday that seeks to establish that the Mississippi Constitution does not protect the right to abortion. That question has come into sharp focus since July 7, 2022, when the state enacted a ban on elective abortions.

Here’s what you need to know about the suit, filed against state medical officials on behalf of the American Association of Pro-Life Physicians (AAPLOG), which is represented by MJI

1. Whether Abortion is a Constitutional Right Has Not Been Fully Settled.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overruling Roe v. Wade, which held that the U.S. Constitution protected a right to seek an abortion, and returned control of abortion policy from federal courts back to the states. But a similar opinion by the Mississippi Supreme Court, named Pro-Choice Mississippi v. Fordice, still holds that abortion is a right protected by the Mississippi Constitution.

Every state has its own constitution. While state constitutions cannot restrict rights secured by the federal Constitution, they can offer greater protection of rights than that afforded under the U.S. Constitution.

Because the Fordice opinion relied heavily on Roe and Casey – cases which the U.S. Supreme Court has now said were “egregiously wrong” – the rationale for the supposed state constitutional right to abortion appears now to be invalid. But the Mississippi Supreme Court has not yet had the opportunity to overrule its opinion in Fordice. So, as of today, elective abortions in Mississippi seem to be both statutorily illegal and constitutionally protected at the same time.

The lawsuit filed by MJI seeks to clarify this legal uncertainty and establish that abortion is not protected by the Mississippi Constitution and that the state’s elective abortion ban is valid.

2. The Validity of Mississippi’s Elective Abortion Ban is Uncertain.

Mississippi’s elective abortion ban conflicts with the Mississippi Supreme Court’s opinion in Fordice and has already been subject to a state constitutional challenge by an abortion clinic. After failing to secure the right to continue performing abortions while that lawsuit was pending, the abortion clinic abandoned its suit and moved to another state. However, until the Fordice opinion is overruled or recognized as no longer good law, Mississippi’s elective abortion ban will remain vulnerable to legal challenges.

3. Pro-Life Physicians Are Being Pressured to Violate their Conscience.

AAPLOG is the largest organization of pro-life obstetrician-gynecologists in the world. AAPLOG includes obstetrician-gynecologists and other physicians, with over 6,000 medical professionals nationwide. AAPLOG members oppose elective abortion and are committed to the care and well-being of their patients including both pregnant women and their unborn children.

AAPLOG filed suit to defend the conscience rights of its members in Mississippi. Many professional medical associations have sought for years to advocate for pro-abortion political positions, rather than focusing on their missions of upholding medical standards. Even worse, those medical organizations have continuously sought to violate the conscience rights of pro-life physicians by forcing them to provide or refer patients for elective abortions. Several of those organizations have issued guidelines suggesting that it is unethical, and potentially punishable by the government, for physicians who oppose elective abortion to refuse to provide or refer patients to other providers for lawful, elective abortions.

By establishing that Mississippi’s elective abortion ban is constitutional, AAPLOG hopes to finally put an end to those intimidation tactics and to defend the right to life in Mississippi.

4. If Successful, the Lawsuit Would End Court-Imposed, Elective Abortion Policy in Mississippi.

The people of Mississippi have long sought to protect the lives of unborn children. However, in 1973, those efforts came to a near halt following the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous opinion in Roe v. Wade.

For 49 years, abortion policy was removed from the democratic process and decided by federal courts. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court has returned control over abortion policy back to the states, where it rightly belongs. But Mississippi’s own courts have not yet had the chance to similarly relinquish control over abortion policy. If the lawsuit is successful, Mississippi’s courts will now recognize that abortion policy is for the people of Mississippi to decide, not the state’s judges.

Mississippi has led the charge to protect life, and with this lawsuit, Mississippi will continue to lead the way.

The Mississippi Justice Institute is a non-profit, constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. It defends the personal, economic, and religious liberty of Mississippians in court to ensure that all forms of government are limited to their essential responsibilities as provided by the Constitution and to foster freedom and prosperity in the state.

On election day, we all get to decide who holds public office. But what if the person we elect proves to be a total dud? What if it turns out that they can scarcely run a bath, let alone a city?

Right now, there’s not a lot anyone can do besides sit back and watch the incompetence pile up until the next election rolls around. Good news for dud politicians, not such great news for everyone else.    

Local people in Mississippi need to be given the power to recall local mayors that do not measure up. When the potholes keep growing and the homicide rates keep rising and boil water notices keep coming, there comes a point when local people should be able to act. If enough local residents sign a petition, it should be possible to trigger a simple ‘yes / no’ recall ballot.

“Giving people the power to recall a mayor” some might suggest “would ensure that mayors never take difficult decisions”.

Really? Isn’t that an argument against electing officials in the first place? Having public officials held accountable for what they decide to do in office is surely the essence of democracy.

A few mayors I can think of have managed to make some pretty terrible decisions. Had they known that they could be held accountable for their A-grade folly, they might not have made quite such a mess of things in the first place.

Any incumbent mayor reading this article would, I am sure, be quick to point out that they are already accountable. Mayors face re-election every few years, even without a recall ballot.

True, but come election day, voter choices are influenced by a myriad of factors. Some folk will be influenced by what is happening in the national news. Others might vote in a general election on the basis of broader questions of identity and party affiliation.

The beauty of a recall vote is its simplicity. Voters are invited to make a simple judgment as to whether the current officeholder is up to the job. It’s not about preferences for a particular party, or ‘their’ political side, or what they saw on Fox News or CNN the night before.

“Why only mayors?”, you might ask. “If recall is such a great idea, why not extend it to all elected officials?”

Put simply, because we need to start somewhere. Introducing a power of recall is going to be contentious. Rather like the issue of term limits, there will be no shortage of politicians who will come out against it. Turkeys don’t vote for Thanksgiving.  

By applying the idea of recall elections initially to just mayors, we might just manage to achieve change.

Besides, recall elections work best when held locally. There is far greater proximity between local voters and their mayor than there is when it comes to state-wide elected officials. This means that local people are in a much better position to judge how their mayor is actually performing at their job.

I believe passionately in recall elections. So much so in fact that back when I was a Member of the British Parliament I even managed to recall myself. In 2014, fed up with the left-wing direction of the then “Conservative” government (no change there), I switched parties.  

I did not have to, but I voluntarily resigned my seat in Parliament so that I could then face a special election – and the judgment of those I served locally. Voters overwhelmingly backed me. Public officials that have the support of the public have nothing to fear from recall votes.

Recall elections are an established part of America’s tradition of democracy. Right now nineteen other States in America have some form of recall. Allowing people in Mississippi to recall local mayors would bring us into line with what happens elsewhere.

In some sense, Mississippians already have the power to remove elected officials outside of ordinary elections. There exists buried inside the Mississippi code some provision to trigger the removal of those in office – but it is an arcane and archaic procedure that has seldom, if ever, been used.  

Creating a right of recall that actually works is long overdue.

Liberty needs leaders, and to secure the future of the liberty movement in our state, we have launched the Mississippi Leadership Academy. We held our inaugural session on Saturday.

Twenty young people are taking part in this six-part program is designed to equip them with the skills necessary to be effective change agents in Mississippi. 

The students, many of whom attend the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Mississippi College and several local high schools, heard from former Representative Hon. Chip Pickering and the state director for Americans for Prosperity, Starla Brown. 

MCPP CEO & President Douglas Carswell began the program by encouraging the students to think critically about issues within our state as they continue the course over the next six months. Pickering discussed what makes Mississippi a unique state, and Brown led her session on the importance of liberty. 

The students proved to be intelligent scholars, asking thought-provoking questions and engaging in unique discourse about public policy. 

The program ended with the students receiving two books — "Inventing Freedom," written by Daniel Hannan and "The Rational Optimist," written by Matt Ridley. In a few months, the students will get to speak with both of these authors and ask questions about the books and the themes within them.

The students will convene again in November for their second session where they will hear from State Auditor Shad White. 

We're so thankful the first session was a success and look forward to meeting with our students again. 

'An Absurd Narrative Mississippians Can See for
Themselves'

This article was originally published in The Epoch Times on Oct. 30, 2022.

As the finger-pointing over what caused the summer water crisis continues in Jackson,
Mississippi, a proponent of the free market and individual liberty examines how local
and national media coverage concocted two culprits—racism and climate change—to fit
a narrative disparaging to the state while downplaying what he said is the true cause:
incompetence.

For Douglas Carswell, President & CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy
(MCPP)—a non-profit organization that advocates for low taxes, light regulation, higher
standards in education, and American exceptionalism—the divide between the media’s
narrative and what the people of Jackson were seeing with their own eyes became a significant wake-up call for the state capital.

“Any time something goes wrong in Mississippi, media will attribute it to events that happened 50 to 150 years ago to say that it’s all a consequence of white racism,” Carswell told The Epoch Times. “It’s an off-the-shelf template that reporters dust off whenever Mississippi comes up, but I think the water crisis was a tipping point for that narrative because ordinary Mississippians could see for themselves how ridiculous it really was.”

National and local media platforms blamed the water crisis on systematic racism within the majority-black city. Some reports got it entirely wrong by flat-out stating that the city had run out of water because of climate change, while, as Carswell pointed out, Jackson has one of the largest reservoirs in the southern United States.

“The Romans managed to master the technology of putting water into pipes to supply a
city with fresh water 2,000 years ago,” Carswell said. “There’s no excuse for Jackson
not to master that technology today. It’s incompetence, and the people of Jackson can
see that.”

While Carswell says the city government’s mismanagement is transparent, the
Mississippi chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) has alleged that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves disinvested funds from Jackson
that could have gone to fix the problem.

The NAACP called on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently formed
Oce of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights to investigate the matter,
stating in its letter to Reeves, “We have been in keen observance of the long history of
Jackson getting less than its fair share of public funding from the Mississippi state
budget and at times, being denied of any funding at all when it was deserved.”

The NAACP filed a complaint with the EPA under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, solidifying the allegation that the water crisis was caused by racial
discrimination.

The Oce of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights didn’t immediately
respond to a request for comment on the investigation.

On Oct. 17, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who serves as chair of the Committee on
Homeland Security and chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6
Attack, launched his own investigation into the state’s spending, asking Reeves for data
on how it plans to distribute American Rescue Plan Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure
Law funding.

President Joe Biden pledged millions to combat “structural racism,” which has led to
equity, diversity, and inclusion departments cropping up in government agencies.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba stated in a city press release, “We know that
the condition of Jackson’s water system didn’t happen overnight but is due to decades
of disinvestment in the city’s infrastructure.”

However, there are many within Jackson who have been watching this play out for
years and point to the city government’s own underinvestment in its water
infrastructure, which has led to 150,000 citizens without potable water.

According to Reeves in an Oct. 17 press release, “Throughout this emergency, we have
had to procure chemicals, workers, and materials for the city routinely because they
were incapable of doing so.”

Reeves added that the state has “poured millions of dollars from taxpayers of every
county into this effort to rescue the city from a crisis of incompetence.”

On Oct. 20, during a traditional turkey pardoning ceremony to support a campaign
designed to raise money for families in need for Thanksgiving, Reeves answered (the
discussion beginning at 14:00) a question from a reporter about the problems with the
city’s water system.

“The mayor has gone on national TV and blamed that on a lot of things,” Reeves said.
“But what we have proven over the last 52 days is the water struggles in Jackson were
specific to the incompetence of this administration.”

The state stepped in on Aug. 29, Reeves said, and set up a unified command structure,
naming both the Department of Health and the Mississippi Emergency Management
Agency as leads.

Within 72 hours, Jackson’s water was restored, Reeves said, and the boiled water notice
was lifted 15 days later.

“Running water systems isn’t that challenging,” Reeves said.

Out of his 19 years in office, with over 1,100 water systems in the state, Reeves said this
has been the only time he’s had to sign an emergency proclamation to ensure that
water was delivered to the city.

‘Grotesque Incompetence’

Carswell said much of the problem stemmed from a simple failure to bill its citizens.

“In 2017, Jackson’s water billing system collected $61 million in revenue, and the
operating costs of the city’s water system were about $54 million,” Carswell said. “That
left a healthy surplus that competent management might have allocated to meet
maintenance costs.”

In 2022, the amount of revenue collected is likely to be closer to $40 million, Carswell
said, “far below running costs.”

“Not only is there no surplus to go toward maintenance, but there does also not seem
to have been much maintenance even when there was a surplus,” Carswell said. “How
on earth does a city water authority manage to lose almost a third of its revenue in the
space of five years?”

In any given city, water is what Carswell called a “cash cow” because it has a captive
market.

“Citizens are billed, and they have to give the city government a check,” Carswell
explained. “What Jackson did is it monstrously failed to invoice people.”

Several years ago, the city government contracted with an engineering firm to set up a
new billing system, Carswell said, which ended in the firm being sued for $89 million,
leaving consequentially more money to be spent on city attorneys than on improving
the city’s water system.

“If a private business fails to invoice a third of its customers, it will go bankrupt,”
Carswell said. “Here we are in Jackson with the authorities failing to generate a third of
its revenue because they couldn’t get their act together and issue invoices.”
In addition to a failure to invoice, the city failed to have qualified personnel running
the water facilities, he said.

“The state repeatedly offered to help, and those offers were ignored,” Carswell added.
“Eventually, things got so bad that the state had to step in and pick up the cost of half of
it and fix things.”

After the federal and state governments stepped in, the total bill came to less than
$200,000, he said.

“It was a minuscule amount of money to fix a problem that was overwhelmingly
caused by grotesque incompetence among civic leaders in Jackson,” Carswell said.

The city of Jackson didn’t reply to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

MCPP CEO & President Douglas Carswell was featured in an article discussing the Jackson water crisis. The story appeared in The Epoch Times.

MCPP President & CEO Douglas Carswell went to Washington D.C. this past week.

While people may have different opinions on some of the people there, DC is an impressive capital city. The Capitol Dome and the Washington monument are proud symbols of an America that believes in herself.

Douglas got to meet lots of fascinating folks at key conservative think tanks and foundations to learn more about what they are doing to fight for freedom at a federal level.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has also attracted a lot of interest given our success in delivering a conservative agenda in our state.

Mississippi might be one of the smaller states in the Union, but there is a lot of interest in how our state managed to cut the state income tax. Conservatives in the capital also wanted to hear about our occupational licensing law, the bill enacted to combat Critical Race theory and how MCPP helped defeat the Biden vaccine mandate.

Our policy wins are important because almost all of the great policy innovations in America come from the states, not from the federal government in Washington. For example, it was midwest states, not DC that came up with the notion of Charter Schools. It was cities that pioneered zero-tolerance policing. Today, it is states like Mississippi that show the way with tax cuts and deregulation.

Many conservatives in Washington are upbeat. Some seem to think that conservatives will do well in the mid-terms next month. Several say they were more optimistic than they were just a couple of months ago.

We at MCPP are optimistic, too. Not just because of what the conservatives might achieve in the mid-terms, but because what we are doing to move the dial in Mississippi is part of a conservative revival underway across America.

Mississippi’s economy suffered the least during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to Governor Tate Reeves’ light-touch lockdown, according to new data released by the Center for American Experiment.

Gross Domestic Product is the total value of goods and services produced and while Mississippi’s GDP took a dip during the pandemic, the impact was less in our state than pretty much any place else in America.

The new study shows how lockdowns harmed each state's economy, but where lockdowns were less stringent and relied on individuals exercising common sense, the economic impact was less severe.

The report shows that New York, for example, which imposed an extreme lockdown at the insistence of its Governor, had a dramatic fall in economic output. In New York, the economic hit was the second highest in the United States.

While Mississippi participated in shutdowns for the first few weeks of the pandemic, many New York businesses were prohibited from opening their doors until June 2021, well into a year after the state’s initial lockdown in March 2020.

Lockdowns across the country tanked the economy in many states. But states like Mississippi, which tended to give individuals and organizations far greater autonomy to assess the risks and figure out how best to mitigate them, fared best.

In stark contrast to state leaders elsewhere, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves defended the rights of businesses to remain open and for Mississippians to work. Local governments and school boards had the opportunity to continue lockdowns if they so chose to, but Reeves said the state would not create a state-wide order. The data in this report shows what a positive impact that approach had.

In consequence, Mississippi’s GDP has bounced back rapidly. In 2021, the total value of goods and services produced in the state was $104 billion, surpassing the pre-pandemic level. The GDP for 2019 was only $101 billion.

Last week a group of Los Angeles council members hit the headlines when they were secretly recorded discussing redistricting. Some of the language that they used was shocking, and their conversation was littered with casual racism. 

The recording is revealing in another way. It draws back the curtain as a group of politicians try to cut deals. In a properly functioning democracy, voters are supposed to choose their politicians. In the recording, we hear politicians scheming to choose their voters.
 
"So what?" you might say. "This is gerrymandering, and it has happened for decades."

This was not just a conversation about how to achieve favorable redistricting, however. It sounded as if these Los Angeles councilors do not think of voters as individuals, but rather as ethnic groups that almost belonged to politicians. 
 
As they discussed carving up Los Angeles between them, it was all about what is in it for "us" and our ethnic group, versus "them" and their ethnic group.   
 
For most of human history, people were defined in terms of caste, race, class or birth. Then along came the Enlightenment and the American Revolution, and a radically better sort of society emerged.
 
In America, everyone was supposed to be an individual in possession of inalienable rights. Yet, here we are listening to progressive politicians in 2022 (the recording was actually made in 2021) talking as if none of that any longer applied.

The left’s relentless obsession with race is taking America to a profoundly dangerous place. Far from creating a more equitable society in which everyone has more opportunity, the Progressives will produce an American dystopia in which different groups compete with one another to carve up resources. 
 
Do we really want to live in an America in which politicians, in the manner of mafia bosses, meet to cut backroom deals for "their" group over anyone else? Do we want a system in which mediocre political figures are given a free pass for their failings because they represent "us" against "them?"  
 
There is nothing progressive about Progressives. To progress is to advance. Progressive politicians risk taking America back to a premodern past.

To help fight back, we are launching the Mississippi Leadership Academy. We will take a cohort of bright young Mississippians from different backgrounds each year and introduce them to the ideas that have made America great.
 
Those that take part will look at some of the public policy challenges we face in our state and hear from some of our state leaders. But participants will also consider how free markets and America’s Founding principles have helped forge the most successful country on earth.
 
As a conservative think tank, we have had plenty of recent wins helping cut the state income tax and defeating the Biden vaccine mandate. But our most important task is to make certain that the next generation of Mississippians understands and appreciates the principles that have made this country such a success.