The Justice Department filed a complaint today challenging portions of Mississippi House Bill 1020 (H.B. 1020), which mandates the appointment of special judges and prosecutors by Mississippi state officials in majority-Black Hinds County, which includes the City of Jackson. The complaint alleges that these provisions discriminate on the basis of race in violation of the U.S. Constitution by shifting authority over the county’s criminal justice system away from democratically-elected judges and prosecutors elected by Black voters.
“Mississippi state lawmakers have adopted a crude scheme that singles out and discriminates against Black residents in the City of Jackson and Hinds County,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our complaint alleges that Mississippi has violated the U.S. Constitution by creating a new, two-tiered system of justice – which erodes the authority of Black elected local officials and creates a new system to be led by judges and prosecutors hand-picked and appointed by state officials. 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. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice remains committed to identifying and challenging all acts of discrimination targeting Black...
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