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LT. GOV. REEVES FILES TO SUPPORT LEGISLATIVE CHALLENGE
Both the House and Senate have the authority to set the rules that govern each chamber, attorneys for Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves argued today in a legal brief filed with the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Lt. Gov. Reeves filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to accept his “friend of the court” brief supporting Speaker Philip Gunn in a legal challenge over how the Legislature governs itself.
The Lieutenant Governor’s brief asks the Court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Rep. Jay Hughes, D-Oxford, and defends the principle of the separation of powers between the legislative and judiciary branches, as outlined in the Mississippi Constitution.
“Separation of powers, which is, quite literally, the first and foremost object of the Mississippi Constitution, holds that no branch ‘ought to possess, directly or indirectly, an overruling influence over the others in the administration of their respective powers,’ ” the legal brief states. “For more than one hundred years this Court, honoring this great principle, has declined to intercede in disputes concerning the Legislature’s internal rules of procedure, leaving their resolution to the members. The Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives is deserving of this same historical deference today.”
