Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Delays Mississippi State-Run Court in Majority-Black Capital

A federal appeals court in Mississippi on Monday issued a temporary delay on the creation of a state-run court in part of the city of Jackson, the state's majority-Black capital.

The temporary administrative stay was granted by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. It will last until at least Jan. 5 and follows a request from the NAACP.

“The NAACP stands firm in our belief that this legislation is inherently undemocratic,” NAACP spokesperson Alicia Mercedes said in a statement Monday, according to the Associated Press. “We will continue to do everything in our power to fight for Jackson residents’ rights to have control over their own institutions and live free from state-driven discrimination.”

In a late-night court ruling on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate dismissed requests to block the court that was created by the majority-white and Republican-controlled Mississippi Legislature.

“None of the Plaintiffs has alleged that he or she is in actual or imminent danger of experiencing any concrete and particularized injury resulting from the establishment of the CCID Court or the challenged appointment of a judge or prosecutors for that court,” Wingate wrote in the filing. 

Attorneys for the NAACP sued on behalf of several residents in Jackson claiming the new court would undermine democracy as voters would not be able to elect their prosecutors or judges.

Despite the judge's ruling to delay the court's creation, attorneys for the state, according to the AP, said the court did not have a workable place or the hired staff to function.

The state will continue to defend the law and “perform our duties to help protect the people of Jackson from stifling, suffocating crime that plagues the city," Michelle Williams, chief of staff for Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a statement responding to the decision.