“Today, the NAACP Office of General Counsel and Covington & Burling LLP filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on behalf of the NAACP, the NAACP Mississippi State Conference, the Jackson Branch of the NAACP, and a number of Jackson residents and civil rights activists to challenge two new Mississippi statutes. The counsel team includes former Attorney General of the United States Eric H Holder, Jr, Senior Counsel at Covington & Burling. Lawmakers and Jackson residents have opposed both bills throughout the legislative session, citing outside attempts to increase policing without adequate training, silence dissent from Jackson residents, and strip residents of their voting power to elect judges and district attorneys who serve their interests. Taken together, the two bills represent a state takeover of Jackson, MS.”

“The first statute, SB 2343, which was signed by Governor Tate Reeves on Friday, April 21st, significantly expands the Capitol Complex Improvement District to bring the entire predominantly Black city of Jackson under control of the state-run Capitol Police. The bill will also significantly restrict Mississippi residents’ ability to protest and hold demonstrations in and around buildings considered property of the state, requiring written approval from the Chief of the Capitol Police or the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety before ‘any event’ occurs. The second bill, HB 1020, creates a new court with an unelected judge appointed by the Mississippi Supreme Court, which will have the ability to hear and determine all preliminary matters and criminal matters within the District. The bill also continues a court packing plan by appointing unelected Circuit Judges to the Seventh Circuit Court District in Hinds County,” said the NAACP in a Friday press release.