JACKSON — Presiding Justice Jess Dickinson on Thursday, Sept. 14, reflected on almost 14 years of service on the Mississippi Supreme Court and prepared for the challenge of leading the Department of Child Protection Services.
The agency he will lead, starting Sept. 18, is tasked with investigating 30,000 reports of child abuse and neglect annually. “If that doesn’t grab your heart, I don’t know what will,” Dickinson said, his voice quavering as he explained his decision to accept the job of Commissioner of Child Protection Services rather than retire from the court in December as he had planned.
Looking out over a gathering of colleagues, family, friends and court staff in the En Banc Courtroom at the Supreme Court, he described a faith-based call to service. He cited Jesus’ admonition in Mark 9:37: “Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me....”
“And so, as I leave this place that I’ve loved working for all these years and I leave all of you who I have worked with and who have been such a great contribution to my work on the court, and I take on the responsibility of the care and the protection of these children, I ask you very sincerely to pray for me that I will have wisdom and discernment and I will know what I am supposed to do. It is a very scary prospect to take on the responsibility for those children.”
Dickinson’s predecessor, Dr. David Chandler, left the Supreme Court in December 2015 to lead Child Protection Services. Chandler will retire Sept. 15. He was unable to attend Dickinson’s ceremony because his own retirement ceremony was the same afternoon. In a letter to Dickinson, he said, “I know of no one who is better suited to handle this job than you are.”
Presiding Justice Michael Randolph explained that Dickinson’s son, Gulfport attorney Michael Dickinson, helped set in motion a chain of events that prompted Jess Dickinson to leave the court to tackle child abuse and foster care.
Several years ago, Michael Memorial Baptist Church in Gulfport began Rescue 100, an effort to recruit, train and certify prospective foster parents. Michael Dickinson and his wife were among the couples wanting to be certified to become foster parents. But the process was slow and cumbersome. The Dickinsons, father and son, met with Chandler to discuss the problem. Justice Dawn Beam asked to help, and Chandler asked Justice Beam to take charge of moving the effort forward. Michael Memorial Baptist Church hosted a three-day mass training for foster parent certification in April 2016. It was the first of six Rescue 100 mass training events across the state.
Michael Memorial Baptist Church Pastor Rev. Tony Karnes, who started Rescue 100, gave the benediction at the ceremony for Justice Dickinson on Thursday. “Thank you for being willing to take on this task to protect our children,” he said.
Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said that Dickinson’s goal when he joined the court was to improve public trust and confidence in the judiciary, and he has done that. He authored 347 majority opinions. He worked to create plain language court rules. He pushed to increase funding for civil legal services. He founded the Access to Justice Commission, which works to improve civil access to the courts for the poor.
“His greatest legacy, I believe, is Access to Justice,” Waller said. “Our system of justice must be accessible to everyone, regardless of their economic status.”
Justice Jim Kitchens presented Dickinson with an engraved plaque from the court, in appreciation of his public service. Kitchens said he tried to talk Dickinson out of leaving the court. “Suffice it to say that I’ve never known anyone who was possessed of higher integrity or grater intellectual honesty than Jess Dickinson,” he said.
With Dickinson’s departure, Kitchens by seniority will become a presiding justice of the Supreme Court. And he inherited Dickinson’s old desk, one that he coveted for years. The antique oak desk is a piece of court history, one of two that may be original furniture purchased for the Supreme Court when the New Capitol opened in 1903. It’s a two-sided desk designed to be shared.
By court tradition, Dickinson signed his name and service dates inside a desk drawer, alongside names of previous occupants that included, among others, former Chief Justice Virgil Griffith, former Chief Justice Lenore Prather and the late Justice Michael Sullivan.
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Dickinson, 70, served on the Mississippi Supreme Court since January 2004. He became a presiding justice in 2011. He was chair of the court’s Rules Committee on Civil Practice and Procedure. He previously served for a year by appointment of the Supreme Court as special circuit judge in the 12th Circuit District of Forrest and Perry counties.
He was a founding member of the Access to Justice Commission, on which he served for 10 years, and he served as liaison to the legal services community. He is a frequent speaker on the need for equal access to justice. He served on the Ethics Committee and the Professionalism Committee of the Mississippi Bar. He is an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law, where students named him Adjunct Professor of the Year four times. He also served as an adjunct professor at William Carey University.
He received the Chief Justice Award in 2004 for his work alleviating a backlog of cases as a special circuit judge. The Mississippi volunteer Lawyers Project honored him with its Pro Bono Pioneer Award in 2009. He received the Chief Justice Award again in 2010 for his commitment to access to justice for the poor. The Capital Area Bar Association honored him with the Judicial Innovation Award in 2011.
Dickinson was born in Charleston, Mississippi. He is a graduate of East Tallahatchie High School and Mississippi State University. He earned a law degree, cum laude, from the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he served on the editorial board of the Mississippi Law Journal. He practiced law in Jackson for a year, then for 20 years in Gulfport.
He is an accomplished musician, playing 30 instruments. He played in rock bands in high school and college, and spent a brief stint as a studio musician. He now leads a band known as Bluegrass Appeal, in which he plays hammered dulcimer and other instruments. He teaches hammered dulcimer classes and has produced a series of instructional videos.
IN THE PHOTO: Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens (right) presents a plaque to Charleston native and outgoing Supreme Court Justice Jess Dickinson (center) while Janet Dickinson stands at her husband’s side. (Mississippi Supreme Court photo by Beverly P. Kraft)
