Inadequate staffing does seem to be a genuine concern. Last year the state Chief Justice called judges out of retirement to deal with a backlog of criminal cases in the county where Jackson is located. It would seem this legislation is a more permanent fix, and I suppose it’s easier to cry racism than to come up with alternative solutions. Year after year, the city has been breaking its own national records for homicides. So Democrats’ insistence that everything is fine the way it is and Republicans therefore have no good reason to change anything is….well….. What this really seems to be about is local Democrats having no defense of their decades and decades-long tenure running the city, and being upset by the perceived trespass upon their political fortress.Over here the entire court system is appointed and it works pretty efficiently, when it's working. It's usually not working because of a very large personnel shortage because you have to pass an exam with a 95% failure rate to get into magistrate school.