by Sharelle Burt
January 2, 2024
This isn’t right….
Despite a fight from the NAACP, a Mississippi federal judge is allowing the state to create a state-run court in Jackson – a majority-Black capital city.
Under U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate’s ruling, the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court judge would be appointed by the state Supreme Court chief justice and prosecutors appointed by the state attorney general. NAACP attorneys filed a lawsuit in April 2023 against Republican Gov. Tate Reeves and state officials, claiming a state-run court specifically targets the majority Black residents of Jackson and reverses the purpose of democracy since the state is assigning judges.
But Wingate blocked the request on Dec. 31, 2023 – just one day before the new law was scheduled to go into effect – arguing the court wasn’t “persuaded” by the plaintiffs’ motion to stop the court creation. “None of the Plaintiffs has alleged that he or she is in actual or imminent danger of experiencing any concrete and particularized injury resulting from the establishment of the Capitol Complex Improvement District Court or the challenged appointment of a judge or prosecutors for that court,” Wingate wrote.
However, in a recent turn of events, according to PBS, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary delay of the ruling following a request from the NAACP, blocking the court’s creation until at least Jan. 5. Spokesperson Alicia Mercedes says the group continues to describe the law as “inherently undemocratic.” “We will continue to do everything in our power to fight for Jackson residents’ rights to have control over their own institutions and live free from state-driven discrimination,” she wrote in a statement.
Reeves signed two controversial bills in 2023 targeting Jackson and pushing the envelope on racial disparities in the state. House Bill 1020 created a separate legal system for the Capitol Complex Improvement District – a 17.5-square-mile area surrounding the Capitol building in Jackson. For Senate Bill 2343, people who protested at the state Capitol would be required to get permits with the state-controlled Capitol Police.
Reeves and officials claim the move is strategically placed to help reduce the crime in the city, citing over 100 homicides each over the past three years – with a population of close to 150,000.
The NAACP argued in its lawsuit that both bills violated the 14th Amendment, discriminating against Jackson’s residents. “In violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, these laws target Jackson’s majority-Black residents on the basis of race for a separate and unequal policing structure and criminal justice system to which no other residents of the State are subjected,” the suit stated.
