Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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Sept. 23
The Greenwood Commonwealth on the Republican Party and the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court:
For all their crawfishing now about when it’s appropriate in a presidential term to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, no one captures the shamelessness of the Republican majority in the Senate more than South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
In 2016, shortly after Antonin Scalia died, opening the way for then President Barack Obama to try to fill that seat on the high court with someone less conservative, Graham helped block that from happening.
“I want you to use my words against me,” Graham said at the time. “If there’s a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, ‘Let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.’ And you could use my words against me and you’d be absolutely right.”
More than two years later, with Donald Trump installed in the White House, Graham repeated that sentiment: “If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump’s term, and the primary process has started, we’ll wait till the next election.”
When it became apparent, however, that this scenario might actually play out in Trump’s first term, Graham began to walk back his previous pledges. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who would oversee confirmation hearings, now appears to be solidly on board with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to rush through this year Trump’s choice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
It’s not politically surprising that Republicans have changed their tune from four years ago, when they steadfastly maintained how inappropriate it was to vote on a high court nominee since Americans were getting ready to decide on who the next president would be. With Ginsburg’s passing, they have a chance conceivably to tilt the court to the right for decades to come. That opportunity could pass them by if they don’t act now and then Trump loses in November or they lose majority control of the senate.
Still, if Republican senators fail to keep their word, they could open a Pandora’s box in which whoever is in the majority will try even more strenuously to turn the presumably impartial high court into a offshoot of their party. Already Democrats have threatened that if the Senate approves Trump’s nomination for Ginsburg’s seat, and if Democrats subsequently win the presidential contest and retake control of the Senate, they may try to ram through legislation to “pack the court” with a few extra justices appointed by Biden.
That could create a cycle of judicial one-upmanship, with each party adding justices every time it holds the Senate and the White House at the same time.
Finding a successor for Ginsburg showcases everything that’s dysfunctional about Washington - how both parties are determined to stack the deck for their short-term interests instead of doing a little thinking about what’s best for the nation for the long haul. This constant back and forth, this taking back what you said so sincerely just a short time ago, explains so well how Washington rarely gets anything of substance done. Few if any of the people in power can be trusted.
Maybe it was a bad idea to establish the precedent of a president’s last year being a Supreme Court-free period, but it was one that the GOP leadership created. It should live by that rule in 2020.
Then after the election, no matter who wins, senators in both parties should sit down and work out the rules going forward, including possibly reinstituting the 60-vote threshold for confirmations to the Supreme Court. That would avoid the currently corrosive situation in which slim majorities can run roughshod over the minority party.
Online: https://www.gwcommonwealth.com
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Sept. 22
The Dispatch on registering to vote:
As the Nov, 3 election approaches, there is no shortage of opinions among Mississippians.
Who should be our next President (Trump or Biden)? Who should be our next U.S. Senator (Cindy Hyde-Smith or Mike Espy)? Should we adopt a new design for a state flag to replace the old flag the Legislature discarded this summer? Should we pass an amendment to the state constitution to make medical marijuana legal? Should our future governors be determined by popular vote alone or hang on to a relic of a Jim Crow rule designed to diminish the Black vote?
Chances are, if you were to pose any of these questions to the people you meet in the course of our day, everyone would have a pretty firm opinion.
What you might also find is that there are many Mississippians who have forfeited the ability to act on those opinions, either because they have failed to register to vote or fail to go to the polls to cast their ballots.
Our history is filled with stories about people who cherished the right to vote and fought, figuratively and sometimes literally, to secure that right. At one point, only white male property owners who were 21 years old or older held the right to participate in the form of self-government that formed the basis of our society.
Over the long arc of history, Blacks, women and young people waged long, but ultimately successful campaigns to secure those rights.
That Americans should be so neglectful of those hard-earned rights is an insult to their memory and sacrifice.
Registering to vote and then going to the polls should not be considered simply a right, but an obligation of every American. It’s a foundational underpinning of civic responsibility.
We will continue to urge people to register to vote and go to the polls to cast their ballots or vote by absentee ballot.
First things first, though.
The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 3 election is quickly approaching. Anyone who wishes to vote must register by Oct. 5. Mississippi does not permit online voter registration, so you either have to register at the circuit clerk’s office, participate in one of many voter registration drives or register by mail.
For those who have previously registered to vote, it’s never a bad idea to check in with the circuit clerk’s office prior to the election to confirm your status as a registered voter.
Once you have registered, you’ll be notified of your polling location. Make plans to vote once you have registered.
If you have an opinion on any of the matters that will be settled on Nov. 3, this is the only means you really have of making that opinion matter.
Register, then vote.
Online: https://www.cdispatch.com
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Sept. 22
The Vicksburg Post on a debate about an animal shelter in Vicksburg, Mississippi:
The debate involving the city’s need and the public’s want for a new animal shelter has grown a bit out of hand and the ultimate goal has gotten lost through the back and forth, the arguing and impending protests.
There is no argument that the current animal shelter is antiquated. It has lived well beyond its shelf life and is no longer in a position where future investments by the city - or private donors - is money well spent.
There is also no argument that the city of Vicksburg is not in a position - especially in a year when the local economy was trampled by the COVID-19 pandemic - to provide a blank check not only to buy property for a new shelter but spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars to either build or upgrade an existing building into the facility we need.
There is also no argument that those who are advocates for a new animal shelter are passionate, dedicated and driven. And, they are not going to let this long-debated topic go anytime soon.
But while debates have turned to arguments and one-time partners have turned to adversaries in this ongoing process, it is our opinion that there has been no better time for compromise.
Through the pandemic, Vicksburg’s economy has thankfully remained stable. Even though the local tourism industry - one of the main driving forces in the local economy - was seriously hurt in the virus-related shutdowns, sales tax revenues in the city of Vicksburg have been as good and better than previous years.
That is why the city should not slow down its efforts to find a suitable location and move forward with this project.
But even in moving ahead, new shelter advocates must understand why city leaders are so cautious during a time when so much has happened.
We are all a bit jumpy, worried and skeptical of what tomorrow, next week or next month may hold.
The city of Vicksburg needs a new animal shelter. Our city’s animal control department deserves new facilities to provide a better home for those animals sheltered and for the public to come, visit and adopt.
Recently, city leaders said the city currently does not have the $1.5 million it says is needed to buy the property and build a necessary facility. That is understandable. But, city leaders also need to remember that the full burden of the facility - while ultimately city-owned - will not be the city’s alone. Private investors, donors and advocates must be a part of this project, offering not just their time, but their money.
More than any other topic on the table, the best solution is for the public and private sectors to come together and work together; anything less will lead to disappointing results.
Online: https://www.vicksburgpost.com
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