Deeper Doo-doo For Dickie Scruggs

Already facing indictment for an alleged scheme to bribe a Mississippi state court judge, mega-tort lawyer Dickie Scruggs' name has now come up in a second case involving illegal attempts to influence a judicial officer.

In the new case, according to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, Mississippi lawyer Joey Langston has agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to influence state court judge Bobby Delaughter by offering him favorable consideration for a federal judgeship.

Langston previously represented Scruggs in a dispute over asbestos litigation fees. Scruggs is accused in court papers of having conspired with Langston to influence Delaughter, although Scruggs has not been charged in the case.

Coincidentally, Delaughter happens to be the judge who just ruled yesterday in a high profile political/legal dispute that Mississippi must hold it's special election for the open Senate seat vacated by Trent Lott by mid-March, instead of in November, which is when it had been set by Republican Governor Haley Barbour.

We have to wonder, also, whether Lott's name will surface in connection with the Langston case: Lott is Scruggs' brother-in-law and it's hard to see how anyone could credibly have suggested that Delaughter would be considered for a federal judgeship without at least invoking Lott's name, although it could've been done without Lott's knowledge.

Are more judicial corruption cases on the horizon in Mississippi? Possibly. It does appear that a sleazy culture of corruption had developed in the state, and Scruggs is certainly at the center of the allegations. So far, three lawyers have plead guilty. Scruggs denies the claims and says he'll fight them, but one has to wonder whether Scruggs tremendous success over the years might have been more than just skill.