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Governor Can Make Mid-Year Budget Cuts, Mississippi Court Rules

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in 2017 on behalf of two Democratic lawmakers, arguing that the state constitution gives legislators the power to set budgets.

By Emily Wagster Pettus

The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the governor’s power to make midyear state budget cuts.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in 2017 on behalf of two Democratic lawmakers, arguing that the state constitution gives legislators the power to set budgets. The suit also says a law that allows the governor to make midyear cuts violates the separation of powers between legislative and executive branches

In June 2017, a Hinds County chancery judge dismissed the lawsuit brought by Sen. John Horhn of Jackson and Rep. Bryant Clark of Pickens.

Supreme Court justices agreed with the dismissal Thursday. It said that while the Legislature has the power to write budgets, the executive branch has the “core power” to control budgets once they are set.

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