The
Mississippi Territory was established by
United States federal law in 1798. Its court system evolved over time to eventually include a supreme court.
Mississippi became a
U.S. state in 1817, and its judiciary was established in the state's constitution. Under its first constitutional construction, the Supreme Court was composed of judges to be elected by the
Mississippi Legislature. The judges spent most of their time presiding over state
superior courts, but would convene together twice a year in
Natchez to consider appeals from the superior courts. The new document prescribed the popular statewide election of the body's
clerk. In 1898, the legislature passed a resolution to amend the constitution to provide for the popular election of all judges in the state, including the Supreme Court justices. The amendment was ratified by wide margin in a 1899 statewide referendum but was overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled that the amendment was substantively equivalent to four separate amendments and thus violated constitutional prohibitions on bundling amendment questions together in referendums. In 1903, the court relocated to chambers in the new
Mississippi State Capitol. In 1914, a series of constitutional amendments were ratified providing for the popular election of six justices to eight-year terms, with the first election taking place in 1916. In 1949, the justices began wearing
judicial robes during their sittings. In the first half of the 20th century, the court heard cases concerning cars,
Prohibition, and economic relief efforts made in response to the
Great Depression. In the late 1940s, several cases brought before the court dealt with
civil rights issues. The court was expanded to nine justices by constitutional amendment in 1952. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the court expanded the rights of criminal defendants and heard more cases concerning
personal injury suits. In 1973, the court moved out of the capitol building into the Carroll Gartin Justice Building. An amendment three years later made the Supreme Court responsible for appointing its own clerk. From 1916 to 1980, all Supreme Court elections were effectively decided in the
Democratic Party's primary elections, as Mississippi was essentially a
one-party state and no
Republicans or independents offered challenges in the state's general elections during that time. Judicial primaries were eliminated by law and judicial elections made nonpartisan in 1994. In the 1970s, courts in Mississippi began moving for the adoption of standard rules of
civil procedure. Over the course of the 1980s, the Supreme Court, citing an inherent authority granted by the state constitution and
common law to formulate rules for all state courts, adopted several sets of rules, including rules of procedure, rules of evidence, and rules of practice. The adoption of such rules led to tension with legislature, which had up to that point specified most procedural rules in its laws. The legislature considered impeaching justices which had favored the rules adoptions or amending the constitution to limit the court's authority before eventually deciding to withdraw appropriations from the body. In 1991, the tension was resolved when the legislature modified about 2,000 state statutes to adhere to the court's rules. In 1993, the legislature established the
Mississippi Court of Appeals to ease the Supreme Court's increasing caseload burden and worsening delays in judgements rendered. The Carroll Gartin Justice Building was rebuilt in 2008 to house both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.
Lenore L. Prather served as the Supreme Court's first female justice from her appointment in 1982 and as its first female
chief justice from 1998 until she retired in 2001.
Reuben V. Anderson served as the first black justice from 1985 until 1990. == Function ==