Search Results for: mississippi

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that they have opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into the City of Lexington’s police department (LPD) that will focus on the LPD’s “use of force and its stops, searches and arrests” to see if there are systemic violations of the Constitution and federal law. The [...]

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced Tuesday that Las Cruces police officer Brad Lunsford was being charged with voluntary manslaughter for shooting and killing a Black nurse, Presley Eze. The shooting occurred in August 2022 in a confrontation outside a gas station. “The killing of Presley Eze is a tragedy and serves as yet [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed on Thursday to reconsider a decision from August that a provision of the Mississippi Constitution that permanently prevents people convicted of certain felonies from voting is unconstitutional.  The court agreed to rehear the case involving Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution after Secretary of State [...]

This article is the fourth in a series covering attacks on the rule of law. The rule of law is a political philosophy premised on the promise that all citizens, leaders, and institutions are accountable to the same laws, guaranteed through processes, practices, and norms that work together to support the equality of all citizens [...]

Attorney General of Mississippi Lynn Fitch announced on Monday that six Rankin County police officers pleaded guilty to the torture and abuse of two Black men. The announcement follows the officers’ guilty plea to federal charges earlier this month. In all, the officers pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault, home invasion, obstruction of justice [...]

The US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that an 1890 state constitutional provision permanently preventing people convicted of certain felonies from voting, Section 241, is unconstitutional. Judge James Dennis writing for the majority, discussed the racial history of the Mississippi Constitution that was ratified in 1890, writing, “From the outset, the object of [...]

British Rowing announced a new policy Thursday, banning transgender athletes from competing in the Women’s Category. Their new policy comes with the announcement of three new categories starting September 11: Open, Mixed and Women’s. However, the new policy also states that for the Women’s Category, “Only individuals who are assigned female at birth will be [...]

District Judge Henry T. Wingate temporarily blocked a Mississippi law Tuesday that made it illegal to “knowingly collect and transmit a ballot that was mailed to another person,” with a few exceptions. The case is in the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi’s Northern Division. The court took issue with the law’s [...]

On June 6, 2023, an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(1), the “felon in possession of a firearm” statute, is unconstitutional as applied to one individual, Bryan Range. While the decision purports to be “a narrow one” the rationale that underpins the [...]

The NAACP Monday filed a lawsuit to block a new Mississippi bill that they allege would violate the state’s constitution. House Bill (HB) 1020 allows the Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice to appoint four judges to the Circuit Court of Hinds County. While HB 1020 calls the appointed judges “temporary,” their term will last until [...]