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The Justice Department is challenging a new law in Mississippi that requires judges to be appointed by state officials rather than elected by residents in its majority-Black capital city.
On Wednesday (July 12), the DOJ said the law, which was signed in April by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, was a "crude scheme that singles out and discriminates against Black residents” in Jackson and Hinds County, where the capital city is located, per The Clarion Ledger.
“This thinly-veiled state takeover is intended to strip power, voice, and resources away from Hinds County’s predominantly-Black electorate, singling out the majority-Black Hinds County for adverse treatment imposed on no other voters in the State of Mississippi,” said Kristen Clarke, the department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights.
Mississippi's law created a new court in Jackson where prosecutors are appointed by the state attorney general and the judge is selected by the state's chief justice. The law also gives the chief justice power to appoint four additional judges to work alongside the four elected circuit court judges in Hinds County.
Challengers of the law argue that it strips Black residents of their voting power while members of the majority-white and Republican-controlled Legislature said the measure will improve safety in Jackson.
On Wednesday, the DOJ said the law violates the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantee. The department seeks to join a federal lawsuit filed by the NAACP against the state.
President of NAACP Derrick Johnson applauded Wednesday's move as an "exemplary" example of "what good government looks like.”
“When our state leaders fail those they are supposed to serve, it is only right that the federal government steps in to ensure that justice is delivered,” Johnson said.
Amid the challenge, the law has been temporarily blocked by U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate. Wingate will need to approve the DOJ's request to intervene in the lawsuit.
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