Jimmy Gates with the Clarion-Ledger reported yesterday on the Supreme Court election race between Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. and Rep. Earle Banks of Jackson.
It probably does not bode well for Banks that nobody has anything bad to say about the Chief. And that includes Banks:
“I am running on who I am. I have nothing negative to say about my opponent,” Banks said Wednesday.
That should really fire up the voters.
My favorite teacher from law school, Professor Ron Rychlak at Ole Miss commented:
“He has advanced positive innovations on the court, and I have never seen him act in and unfair or biased manner,” Rychlak said. “Certainly some people feel that he has ruled the wrong way in given cases, but that is how it always is with judges,”
That seems like an accurate assessment to me.
I have limited experience with Chief Justice Waller, but have found him to be personable, approachable and very nice. In fact, everyone seems to like him. Just ask Earl Banks.
Whenever I hear lawyers start complaining about something at the Court—something that comes with the job—they never say anything negative about Justice Waller. If Mississippi lawyers voted on a who’s-who for the Court, Waller would probably be elected most popular.
The mark of a great judge is that even lawyers who lose a case before the judge talk about how much they like him or her. Waller seems to have that going for him.
All that suggests to me that Justice Waller will be very hard to beat in November.