An arduous eight-year-long legal struggle over the attempted dissolution of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority took a significant turn recently, according to Bloomberg Law. The dispute stemmed from a piece of state legislation introduced in 2016 that aimed to dissolve the local airport authority in Jackson, Mississippi.
Previously, the case had reached the point where Mississippi state legislators were given a court order to furnish privilege logs concerning their participation in the attempted disbandment of the airport authority. However, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has unanimously declared this appeal moot. Presiding over the case en banc, all the judges, amounting to 15, concurred with the Wednesday ruling.
This ruling puts the matter back under the district court’s purview to confirm whether jurisdiction over the case remains intact, considering all the claims made by the commissioners are now moot. Legal professionals have closely monitored this case given the clear implication it has on the separation of powers, particularly in situations where state legislation is perceived to infringe on the authority of locally governed entities.