Court says it's ending dispute over Mississippi airport board but city officials disagree

JACKSON, Miss. — A federal appeals court says it is ending a long-running dispute over whether the state of Mississippi or its capital, Jackson, will control the city's airport board.

The decision Tuesday by a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could clear the way for a new board controlled mostly by state-appointed members. But city officials said Wednesday that they are “seeking a clarification” on the ruling.

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the city council and the city attorney said in a statement that changing control of the airport board is “an unconstitutional takeover” of city property. They also said the appeals court overstepped its power by ordering the entire lawsuit to be dismissed rather than ruling only on a specific question of whether legislators could avoid answering questions in the case.

Republican legislators who pushed for a new board said Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport should have a regional governing authority because it serves a regional customer base. Critics of the change said white suburban Republicans were trying to steal authority over an asset controlled by Democratic officials in majority-Black Jackson.

In 2016 some Jackson residents sued then-Gov. Phil Bryant and several legislators months after Bryant, a Republican, signed a law to create a new airport board. Changes have been on hold during the court fight.

Members of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority joined as plaintiffs, and multiple appeals have been filed.

On Tuesday a three-judge panel ordered a district judge to dismiss the suit, saying city-appointed airport board members failed to show they would be harmed by a change in the governing authority.

“Groundhog Day has come to an end," Appeals Court Judge Edith H. Jones wrote.

Jackson has maintained control of the airport during the dispute, and city officials currently have the power to appoint a five-member board.

Under the 2016 law creating a nine-person airport board, five members would be appointed by state officials: two by the governor and one each by the lieutenant governor, the Mississippi National Guard adjutant general and the Mississippi Development Authority director. There would also be one appointment each from Jackson's mayor and City Council and supervisors in suburban Madison and Rankin counties.