Mike Wallace and Charles Cowan obtained a significant victory at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of eight members of the Mississippi Legislature involving the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority (JMAA) in the case JMAA, et al v. Harkins, et al; United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; 98 F.4th 144 (5th Cir. 2024).

The City of Jackson, along with others, sued various state and county officers to invalidate a statute adopted by the Mississippi Legislature to expand the board governing the Jackson International Airport to include representatives of adjacent counties and other directors appointed by state officers. Certain plaintiffs issued subpoenae to eight current and former Members of the Mississippi Legislature to obtain their communications and other documents in their files related to the passage of the challenged law, Senate Bill 2162. The Legislators retained Wise Carter to challenge those subpoenae on grounds of legislative privilege and jurisdiction. The case has previously gone before the Fifth Circuit three times (one of those times en banc). Following the third appeal in this seven-year-old case, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals finally invalidated the subpoenae in whole, finding that the District Court had no jurisdiction over the claims to which those subpoenae related because the issuing party, the JMAA Board, lacked standing. This victory now advances the State’s efforts to create a new airport authority board consistent with Senate Bill 2162. 

A previous victory in this case in the second appeal expanded the scope of legislative privilege available to state legislators. Recognition of immunity of Legislators from compelled testimony is important in order to enable them to do their jobs. The Mississippi Legislature adopts hundreds of statutes every year. Mike Wallace’s and Charles Cowan’s victory for the Mississippi Legislature will prevent future attempts to force legislators to testify about any number of them.