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Plaintiffs,
Defendants,
and
COME NOW the Apportionment and Elections Committee of the Mississippi House
of Representatives and moves to intervene in this action pursuant to Rule 24 of the Federal
to reapportion the Mississippi House of Representatives in the wake of the 2010 census.
That plan was adopted by a majority vote of the House on two separate occasions during the
2011 Regular Session. However, the Senate rejected the plan, deviating from the long-
standing practice and custom in the Mississippi Legislature of each house deferring to the
the United States Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C
§ 1973c, the House Apportionment and Elections Committee was granted intervention to
participate in the ensuing federal court lawsuit that sought to adopt a plan for the upcoming
legislative elections. See, Watkins v. Mabus, 771 F. Supp. 789, 792-793 (S.D. Miss. 1991)
(three-judge court) (noting that the Court granted intervention to the House Committee and
permissive intervention is sought under Rule 24(b). As set forth in the accompanying
4. Although the 2011 legislative session has not ended, it is possible that the
session will conclude without a plan having been passed by both houses. In anticipation of
defendant. It agrees with the plaintiffs that the pre-existing plan violates the one-person,
one-vote principle of the Fourteenth Amendment and that absent the passage of a plan by
both houses of the Legislature, this Court must determine what plan will be used for the 2011
complaint.
2
Case 3:11-cv-00159-CWR -FKB Document 12 Filed 03/23/11 Page 3 of 4
have no objection to this motion. The Attorney General’s office and the Defendant
Mississippi Republican Executive Committee have stated that they do not yet have a position
on this motion.
Respectfully submitted,
s/Robert B. McDuff
ROBERT B. MCDUFF
Miss. Bar No. 2532
767 North Congress Street
Jackson, Mississippi 39202
(601) 969-0802
rbm@mcdufflaw.com
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on March 23, 2011, I electronically filed the foregoing Motion to
Intervene of the Apportionment and Elections Committee of the Mississippi House of Representatives
with the Clerk of the Court using the ECF system which sent notification to the following:
Michael B. Wallace
WISE CARTER CHILD & CARAWAY
P.O. Box 651
Jackson, MS 39205-0651
I certify that a copy of the foregoing has also been delivered via electronic mail to the
following:
Harold Pizzetta
Chief, Civil Litigation Division
Office of the Attorney General
P.O. Box 220
Jackson, MS 39205
Samuel Begley
Begley Law Firm
P.O. Box 287
Jackson, MS 39205
Counsel for Defendant Mississippi Democratic Executive Committee
s/Robert B. McDuff
Counsel for the Applicant for Intervention