Two months after Haley Barbour's last-minute clemency acts sparked political controversy around Mississippi and the country, the Pardongate episode has came to a close. In a 6-3 vote handed down March 8, the Mississippi Supreme Court declined to overturn Barbour's more than 200 pardons and commutations, even for those who failed to publish notice of their pardon applications as the state Constitution requires.
"We hold that a facially valid pardon, issued by the governor—in whom our Constitution vests the chief-executive power of this state, and who is the head of the coequal executive branch of government—may not be set aside or voided by the judicial branch, based solely on a claim that the procedural publication requirement of Section 124 was not met or that the publication was insufficient," wrote Presiding Justice Jess H. Dickinson in the majority opinion, joined by Justices George C. Carlson, Ann H. Lamar, James W. Kitchens, David A. Chandler and Leslie D. King.
In upholding the pardons, the court also vacated the temporary restraining order that Hinds County Circuit Court Tomie Green issued Jan. 11, which required five former mansion inmate workers to check in with state corrections officials. That order also kept some pardonees imprisoned since early January.
Justice Michael K. Randolph wrote a powerfully worded dissent, with which Chief Justice William Waller Jr. And Randy G. Pierce concurred. "Today's decision is a stunning victory for some lawless convicted felons, and an immeasurable loss for the law-abiding citizens of our State," Randolph wrote.
He continued: "Today's decision allows some convicted felons to avoid their constitutional obligations and allows a coordinate branch to eschew multiple constitutional obligations and duties, in favor of those convicted felons and in total disregard of substantive constitutional rights reserved by the people of Mississippi."
Several pieces of legislation that would have reined in the governor's ability to pardon failed to be voted out of committee before the March 6 deadline. Attorney General Jim Hood, who sued Barbour in circuit court to block the pardons from taking effect, said that although he respected the court's decision, he wants a statewide ballot initiative to require courts to enforce the 30-day notice provision in the state constitution.
"They are all free men," Hood told reporters during a conference call Friday afternoon. "I hope they go forward and lead productive lives."
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