JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The NAACP Office of General Counsel and Covington & Burling LLP filed a lawsuit to challenge two new Mississippi laws that were signed by Governor Tate Reeves (R-Miss.), including the controversial House Bill 1020.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Under House Bill 1020, Capitol police would be given primary jurisdiction within the expanded Capital Complex Improvement District (CCID) boundary lines. Jackson police would have secondary jurisdiction.
The bill will also allow place certain areas within the majority-Black city — most of them majority-white neighborhoods — under the jurisdiction of a new court system. That new system would send those convicted of misdemeanors to state prisons rather than to county jails, as currently happens, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
It would be run by judges appointed by the Republican-appointed Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court and prosecutors appointed by the Republican attorney general, rather than elected.
The other bill mentioned in the lawsuit is Senate Bill 2343, which expands the jurisdiction of Capitol Police in the Capitol Complex Improvement District. It provides primary jurisdiction to Capitol Police in the CCID and concurrent jurisdiction in Jackson.
“As our country continues to face the reality and consequences of our broken law enforcement and criminal justice systems, passing legislation to increase policing, install undemocratically appointed judges, and infringe on the constitutional right to protest is simultaneously irresponsible and dangerous. To be clear – this legislation is nothing new. The people of Jackson have been silenced and have faced years of discriminatory disinvestment and neglect from the state government which led to the major water crisis they are still dealing with to this day. If elected officials in Mississippi want to help address the results of their negligence and improve the lives of Jackson residents, they should start with completing improvements to Jackson’s water system, not undermining the constitutional rights of their citizens,” said NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson.