Mississippi
Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP v. State Board of Election Commissioners
Mississippi has a growing Black population, which is already the largest Black population percentage of any state in the country. Yet. Black Mississippians continue to be significantly under-represented in the state legislature, as Mississippi’s latest districting maps fail to reflect the reality of the state’s changing demographics. During the 2022 redistricting process, the Mississippi legislature refused to create any new districts where Black voters have a chance to elect their preferred representative. The current district lines therefore dilute the voting power of Black Mississippians and continue to deprive them of political representation that is responsive to their needs and concerns, including severe disparities in education and healthcare.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2022
![Bans Off Our Bodies Protest Sign](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2023/01/BanOffOurBodies.jpg)
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization
The case concerns the constitutionality of a Mississippi law prohibiting abortions after the fifteenth week of pregnancy. The state used the case as a vehicle to ask the Supreme Court to take away the federal constitutional right to abortion it first recognized 50 years before in Roe v. Wade. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States accepted the state’s invitation and overturned Roe eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Mississippi
Mar 2017
![Dockery v. Hall](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Dockery v. Hall
The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander, and the law firm of Covington & Burling LLP, filed a petition for class certification and expert reports for a federal lawsuit on behalf of prisoners at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF). The lawsuit, which was filed in May 2013, describes the for-profit prison as hyper-violent, grotesquely filthy and dangerous. EMCF is operated "in a perpetual state of crisis" where prisoners are at "grave risk of death and loss of limbs." The facility, located in Meridian, Mississippi, is supposed to provide intensive treatment to the state's prisoners with serious psychiatric disabilities, many of whom are locked down in long-term solitary confinement.
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All Cases
18 Mississippi Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
![Jones v. Mississippi](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Jones v. Mississippi
Whether the Eighth Amendment requires a judge or jury to make a finding that a juvenile is “permanently incorrigible” before imposing a sentence of life without parole.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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![Jones v. Mississippi](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
U.S. Supreme Court
Juvenile Justice
Jones v. Mississippi
Whether the Eighth Amendment requires a judge or jury to make a finding that a juvenile is “permanently incorrigible” before imposing a sentence of life without parole.
Dec 2021
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Mississippi
Nov 2021
![Abraham House of God](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2021/11/Abraham-House-of-God-Horn-Lake-MS_Front-600x382.png)
ABRAHAM HOUSE OF GOD V. CITY OF HORN LAKE
Horn Lake officials unlawfully denied zoning approval for a proposed mosque due to anti-Muslim bias, according to a federal lawsuit filed in November 2021 by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Mississippi, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Just before holding a vote on the mosque’s site plan, one Horn Lake Alderman ominously warned, “if you let them build it, they will come” and encouraged his fellow board members to “stop it before it gets here.”
Status: Closed (Settled)
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![Abraham House of God](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2021/11/Abraham-House-of-God-Horn-Lake-MS_Front-600x382.png)
Mississippi
Religious Liberty
ABRAHAM HOUSE OF GOD V. CITY OF HORN LAKE
Horn Lake officials unlawfully denied zoning approval for a proposed mosque due to anti-Muslim bias, according to a federal lawsuit filed in November 2021 by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Mississippi, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Just before holding a vote on the mosque’s site plan, one Horn Lake Alderman ominously warned, “if you let them build it, they will come” and encouraged his fellow board members to “stop it before it gets here.”
Nov 2021
Status: Closed (Settled)
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Mississippi Supreme Court
Sep 2020
![vbm](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2020/04/vote_by_mail-600x399.jpg)
Oppenheim v. Watson
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Mississippi, and Mississippi Center for Justice filed a lawsuit on August 11, 2020, seeking to ensure that absentee voting is more accessible to Mississippians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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![vbm](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2020/04/vote_by_mail-600x399.jpg)
Mississippi Supreme Court
Voting Rights
Oppenheim v. Watson
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Mississippi, and Mississippi Center for Justice filed a lawsuit on August 11, 2020, seeking to ensure that absentee voting is more accessible to Mississippians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sep 2020
Status: Closed (Judgment)
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Mississippi
Oct 2019
![Brown v. Madison County](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Brown v. Madison County
The ACLU of Mississippi, the ACLU, and the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP filed a federal lawsuit against the Madison County Sheriff’s Department to challenge its decades-old policing practices that employ unconstitutional, racially-motivated tactics that target the Black community.
Status: Closed (Settled)
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![Brown v. Madison County](https://www.aclu.dev/wp-content/themes/aclu-wp/img/fallback-case-gavel.png)
Mississippi
Criminal Law Reform
Brown v. Madison County
The ACLU of Mississippi, the ACLU, and the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP filed a federal lawsuit against the Madison County Sheriff’s Department to challenge its decades-old policing practices that employ unconstitutional, racially-motivated tactics that target the Black community.
Oct 2019
Status: Closed (Settled)
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Mississippi
May 2016
![Couple in Mississppi lawsuit](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2022/05/mississipicouple-600x600.jpg)
Alford v. Moulder
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Mississippi today filed a lawsuit to challenge HB 1523, the anti-LGBT law that passed this spring. The lawsuit, which targets the Registrar of Vital Records, was filed on behalf of ACLU of Mississippi members and Nykolas Alford and Stephen Thomas, a gay couple who are engaged to be married and face discrimination as a result of this law.
Status: Closed
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![Couple in Mississppi lawsuit](https://assets.aclu.org/live/uploads/2022/05/mississipicouple-600x600.jpg)
Mississippi
LGBTQ Rights
Religious Liberty
Alford v. Moulder
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Mississippi today filed a lawsuit to challenge HB 1523, the anti-LGBT law that passed this spring. The lawsuit, which targets the Registrar of Vital Records, was filed on behalf of ACLU of Mississippi members and Nykolas Alford and Stephen Thomas, a gay couple who are engaged to be married and face discrimination as a result of this law.
May 2016
Status: Closed
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