www.LC.org

Pro-life Amendment Will Likely Appear on Ballot in 2011

Jackson, MS – The deadline for certifying signatures has been extended so that Personhood Mississippi will now likely have enough signatures to place an amendment to the state constitution on the ballot. The amendment will include the unborn in the definition of person under state law. After argument on an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction filed by Liberty Counsel but before the judge issued a ruling, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, citing to significant weather-related delays this week, decided that the deadline for filing the petitions should be moved from tomorrow, February 13, to Tuesday, February 16, 2010. This extension provided some welcome relief at a critical time. Liberty Counsel will continue with the lawsuit on behalf of Personhood Mississippi in order to protect the rights of all Mississippi voters.

Personhood Mississippi had gathered more than enough signatures, despite Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood having interpreted the law to require an earlier deadline than the plain language of the statute allowed. That deadline needlessly prevented many valid signatures from being certified. While it appeared that this strained interpretation of the law could have caused Personhood Mississippi to fall short of the required number of signatures, the extended deadline should allow Personhood Mississippi to complete the process in a timely fashion and will likely place the amendment on the ballot in the fall of 2011.

The Mississippi Constitution and state law give individuals one full year to gather signatures for a petition, during which they must garner at least 89,285 signatures of registered voters, and the signatures must be certified by the circuit clerks in each county. For Personhood Mississippi, that one-year period ends on Saturday, February 13, 2010. The law also provides that the deadline for filing the petition with the Secretary of State is 90 days before the start of the next legislative session. Thus, Personhood Mississippi should have had until October 2010 to file its petition. Mr. Hood, however, arbitrarily shortened the filing deadline from October to February 13, forcing the petitioners to rush to persuade the clerks to hasten their certification.

Liberty Counsel is seeking to insure that every signature is counted and that each person’s voice is heard and to protect Personhood Mississippi’s constitutional right to place its amendment on the ballot.

Steve Crampton, Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, said: “This is a great victory, not only for Personhood Mississippi but for all citizens of Mississippi. The denial of even one person’s constitutional rights is the denial of the rule of law for us all.”

Receive these News Releases via RSS 

Follow Liberty Counsel on and