It’s now been over eight years since the state legislature voted to regionalize control of the Jackson airport. The city of Jackson, and its airport board, has now suffered a legal setback that may doom the city’s effort to keep control of the airport.
In the hierarchy of courts, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in New Orleans, is just one step below the United States Supreme Court. There are 13 such federal appellate courts in the nation.
The Fifth Circuit has recently issued a 10-page decision that helps the state legislature and hurts the city. It’s not a death blow to the city, but, reading the tea leaves, it seems clear that the Fifth Circuit is not in the city’s corner.
The ruling itself does not give control to the state, but rather addresses a legal issue called “discovery.” The plaintiffs for the city tried to broadly subpoena state legislators but the legislators refused to hand over information the city wanted. In its ruling, the Fifth Circuit ruled the pro-city plaintiffs lacked standing and dismissed their case.
A panel of three Fifth Circuit judges issued the opinion: Edith Jones and Don Willett from Texas; and Kurt Englehardt from Louisiana.
In the introduction to their opinion, they wrote, “For the fourth time, Mississippi state legislators appeal a district court order compelling discovery in an eight-year-old dispute over control of the Jackson-Medgar Evers International Airport. For numerous reasons that have percolated throughout this litigation, we conclude that the current Plaintiffs, members of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority, lack Article III standing to sue. Groundhog Day has come to an end. Accordingly, we VACATE the order of the district court and REMAND with instructions to dismiss.”
The lack of standing is a particularly tough blow for the city and the current airport board. Without standing, you simply have no right to sue. That would seem to preclude further legal attempts to stop regionalization of the airport.
Cities are creatures of the state legislature, but our federal system of laws complicates them. Federal supremacy means the state can’t do something that conflicts with federal laws, including the U. S. Constitution.
The city and its board argued that by going from a city board to a regional board, black voting power would be diminished in violation of the Constitution.
Jackson is 79 percent black and four of the five members of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority board are black.
The new regional board, proposed by Senate Bill 2162, would be a nine-member board consisting of the Adjutant General of the Mississippi National Guard (or designee); the Executive Director of the Mississippi Development Authority (or designee); one commissioner appointed by the Mayor of the City of Jackson, the City Council, the Board of Supervisors of Madison County, the Board of Supervisors of Rankin County, respectively; two commissioners appointed by the Governor; and one commissioner appointed by the Lieutenant Governor.
According to the city, this violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution and amounts to “an illegal dilution of voting and other rights of the citizens of Jackson, Mississippi.”
In early appeals, the Fifth Circuit ruled the city “failed to show an injury to a legally protected interest.” So the city amended their complaint and tried again, and again and again. That explains the court’s reference to the movie “Groundhog Day.”
The second city appeal stated the commissioners would be “deprived of their benefits if they lose their position,” including a “per diem” and “travel reimbursement.” The Fifth Circuit reversed its lower district court on that appeal, stating the discovery efforts against state legislators were overbroad.
On the city’s third appeal, the Fifth Circuit dismissed the city’s suit as moot because none of the airport board members were still serving.
So the city amended their complaint to add two sitting commissioners as plaintiffs whose terms will not expire for several years. That cured the mootness problem. The district court then reinstated its prior discovery order, which the legislators again resisted, leading to this fourth appellate round.
Once again, the Fifth Circuit said the airport board members lack standing to sue. “Plaintiffs have not alleged any particularized personal injury arising from this governmental restructuring. Plaintiffs are not ‘singled out for specially unfavorable treatment’ when the JMAA (and the commissioners’ positions) is replaced with a new regional airport authority.”
The Fifth Circuit opinion concludes by quoting a lower court judge:
“The fundamental question at the heart of this dispute is, who gets to control the airport and its surrounding assets? Is it the local government, which in this case owns and operates the Jackson airport, or the state government, which generally speaking has authority over the composition of airport boards in Mississippi?”
The appellate court then concluded:
“Exactly. This suit is nothing more than a political dispute between state and local governments over control of an airport and the land around it. One side has dragged that fight into federal court by tricking it out in equal protection colors. That won’t fly.”
This whole legal quagmire started eight years ago. Since then, the city has not proven its ability to manage its water, trash, streets, libraries and buildings. Now the state looks wise in regionalizing the airport.
The Jackson airport is not currently run well. Our airport is on display to thousands of travelers. It should be a showcase. It is not. It’s time to enact Senate Bill 2162. This legal wrangling, with hope, has come to an end.
