Mississippi Law And Government

As with all other U.S. States and the federal government, Mississippi's government is based on the separation of legislative, executive and judicial power. Executive authority in the state rests with the Governor, currently Haley Barbour (Republican). The Lieutenant Governor, currently Amy Tuck (originally elected as a Democrat, she switched to the Republican Party in 2002), is elected on a separate ballot. Both the governor and lieutenant governor are elected to four-year terms of office. Unlike the federal government, but like many other U.S. States, most of the heads of major executive departments are elected by the citizens of Mississippi rather than appointed by the governor.

Mississippi is one of only five states that elects its state officials in odd numbered years (The others are Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Virginia). Mississippi holds elections for these offices every 4 years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, the last year when Mississippi elected a Governor was 2003; the next gubernatorial election will occur in 2007, with future gubernatorial elections to take place in 2011, 2015, 2019, etc.

Legislative authority resides in the state legislature, composed of the Senate and House of Representatives. The lieutenant governor presides over the Senate, while the House of Representatives selects their own Speaker. The state constitution permits the legislature to establish by law the number of senators and representatives, up to a maximum of 52 senators and 122 representatives. Current state law sets the number of senators at 52 and representatives at 122. The term of office for senators and representatives is four years.

Supreme judicial authority rests with the state Supreme Court, which has statewide authority. In addition, there is a statewide Court of Appeals, as well as Circuit Courts, Chancery Courts and Justice Courts, which have more limited geographical jurisdiction. The nine judges of the Supreme Court are elected from three districts (three judges per district) by the state's citizens in non-partisan elections to eight-year staggered terms. The ten judges of the Court of Appeals are elected from five districts (two judges per district) for eight-year staggered terms. Judges for the smaller courts are elected to four-year terms by the state's citizens who live within that court's jurisdiction.

At the federal level, Mississippi's two U.S. senators are Trent Lott (Republican) and Thad Cochran (Republican). As of the 2001 reapportionment, the state has four congressmen in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mississippi has 82 counties. Citizens of Mississippi counties elect the five members of their county Board of Supervisors from single-member districts, as well as other county officials.

Mississippi, like the rest of the American South, long supported the Democratic Party. Defeat in the Civil War at the hands of Abraham Lincoln, and the policies of Reconstruction, which included federally appointed Republican governors, led to considerable white Southern resentment toward the Republican Party. Following the Compromise of 1877, federal troops enforcing the provisions of Reconstruction were pulled out of the South. Thereafter the Democratic Party regained political control of the state, using methods designed to depress black voter turnout. The Mississippi state government was the first after the war to pass a law preventing black voters with a Grandfather Clause in 1890. After it was declared unconstitutional, it was replaced by a poll tax and literacy tests. By 1900, the vast majority of African Americans in the state were denied the right to vote. Not until 1966, following the passage of the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, would most regain the vote.

For 116 years (from 1876 to 1992), Mississippians only elected Democratic governors. Over the same period, the Democratic Party dominated other state and federal elections in Mississippi. However, since the 1960s the Republican Party has become competitive in statewide elections, and, in recent years, it has become dominant in the state's federal elections, winning the state's electoral votes in every election since 1980.

On some social issues, Mississippi is one of the more conservative states in the US, with religion often playing a large role in citizens' political views. Liquor laws are particularly strict and variable from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Liquor sales are frequently banned on Sunday. Many counties allow no alcoholic beverage sales ("dry"), while others allow beer but not liquor, or liquor but not beer. Some allow beer sales, but only if it is warm. In 2004, 86% of voters amended the state constitution to ban any legal rights for same sex couples — the highest level of support any such initiative has received in the United States. At the same time, Mississippi has been one of the more innovative states in the country -- having been the first state to implement the sales tax and the first state to pass a Married Women's Property Act. Also, Mississippi has more African American elected officials than any other state in the United States. Mississippi is one of only 12 states to have decriminalized the possession of Marijuana[6].