Court Opinion

ID: 9780210
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 01:33:13.471919+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:58.859218
License: Public Domain

DICKINSON, Presiding Justice,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
¶ 32. While I agree with Presiding Justice Carlson’s thorough factual analysis of the complaint brought against Judge McGee, I cannot agree that this Court has authority to order punishment not recommended by the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance. It’s true that my views on this issue have changed, but, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter once put it, “[w]isdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely because it comes late.”5 I respectfully dissent in part.
¶ 33. This Court’s constitutional authority over the judicial branch of government is not absolute. Our constitution itself includes several provisions that limit our powers; and one of those limiting provisions is Section 177A, which establishes the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance, and then states: “On recommendation of the commission on judicial performance, the supreme court may remove from office, suspend, fine or publicly censure or reprimand any justice or judge....”6
¶ 34. Section 177A is not ambiguous. Our authority to order punishment is constitutionally limited to the punishment recommended by the Commission. The majority — citing as its authority this Court’s rules and prior caselaw — orders punishment that was not recommended by the Commission. But neither our rules nor our prior cases trump the constitution.
¶ 35. My review of the record convinces me that we should agree with the Commission’s finding that Judge McGee engaged in willful misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, which brings the office into disrepute; and that we should accept the Commission’s recommendation of a 120-day suspension from office without pay, a public reprimand, and assessment of costs of this proceeding in the amount of $100.

. Henslee v. Union Planters Nat’l Bank & Trust Co., 335 U.S. 595, 599, 69 S.Ct. 290, 93 L.Ed. 259 (1949) (Frankfurter, J, dissenting).

. Miss. Const, art 6, § 177A (emphasis added).