U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate has had the embarrassment of seeing two cases pulled from his docket for his failure to act promptly on them.
The federal judge in the Southern District of Mississippi has apparently a pattern of taking his sweet time to rule on motions before his court, causing cases to drag on for longer than they should, which is fair to neither defendants nor plaintiffs.
The two cases that were yanked were both lawsuits filed by the state — one against Entergy Mississippi and another against the executives of failed biofuel plant KiOR. Attorney General Jim Hood sought the reassignment, complaining that the slowness in Wingate’s court was an “unfortunate pattern.”
The statistics would seem to bear out that criticism.
As of Sept. 30, 2015, the latest figures reported, Wingate had 105 motions in his court that had been pending for more than six months. That was by far the highest in Mississippi — the next highest was nine, and most of the other 13 judges had zero. It was also the second highest in the three states — Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas — included in the 5th Circuit. Only a judge in Texas, Lynn Hughes, had more at 118. The next highest among district judges in the three-state region was 13.
Wingate, in response to the reassignment of the two cases, said in an interview this week with The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson that he has made progress since that year-old report, whittling down his backlog to about 30 to 40 motions, with plans to have everything caught up by next week.
Although the judge accepted ultimate responsibility for the backlog, he claimed it was largely attributable to some difficult, high-profile cases in his docket, such as the corruption case against former Mississippi Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps, and issues with former staffers.
Maybe. But maybe it’s been complaints to his overseers on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and now publicity, about his slowness that have caused the judge to get busy.
Federal judges such as Wingate have lifetime appointments. That insulates them from political pressure, but it also shields them from the accountability that would come from having to stand for reappointment.
Wingate just needs to work harder. And if the load is too much for him, he should either ask for help or retire.
