Litigation

S.B. 2343 makes peaceful protests on public sidewalks and streets next to state government buildings in Jackson, Mississippi, illegal without receiving prior written permission from one of two government officials – a clear violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside communities to ensure the right to peacefully gather and protest is preserved as a democratic pillar and constitutional right.

H.B. 1020 is radical legislation that unconstitutionally packs the Hinds County Circuit Court and a sweeping effort to disempower voters in majority-Black Hinds County from choosing their own local judges. The MacArthur Justice Center is fighting alongside communities whose state legislators are unconstitutionally robbing them of political self-determination, particularly within the criminal legal system.

Alongside a coalition of advocates, we have urged the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Office of the Inspector General to take measures to mitigate the COVID-19 outbreak at the Adams County Detention Center in Mississippi, which is recklessly endangering the lives of hundreds of people. On May 12,...

As indicated by its track record over the last several years and substantiated by the events of the last ten days, Mississippi is deliberately and systematically subjecting people in its care to a substantial risk of serious harm due to understaffing, in violation of the rights secured and protected by the Eighth Amendment to the...

The MacArthur Justice Center, in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), filed a federal class action lawsuit targeting the City of Corinth, Mississippi for operating a modern-day debtors’ prison, unlawfully jailing poor people for their inability to pay bail and fines. As a result of the settlement, the City will ensure that defendants arrested without a warrant see a judge within 48 hours, will stop jailing defendants who cannot afford to pay a fine or money bail, will release most people on their own recognizance following arrest, and will allow defendants who are unable to pay their fine in full to choose between a $25 monthly payment plan and community service.

After contacting the MacArthur Justice Center, Mississippi Director Cliff Johnson conducted an investigation. We learned that Judge Shirley had imposed countless similar orders, cruelly conditioning custody or visitation rights on monetary payments that parents sometimes were unable to make. On October 26, 2017, the Pearl Board of Alderman accepted MacArthur’s demands that the Pearl Youth...

The U.S. Magistrate Judge heard argument in Atlanta. That court ruled that the information was relevant to our clients’ case in Mississippi, but that the Georgia execution secrecy statute applied in Federal Court. We have appealed this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Briefs have been filed, but no ruling...

The MacArthur Justice Center, the ACLU and the ACLU of Mississippi filed a class action lawsuit against Scott County (Mississippi) sheriff, district attorney, and judges after learning that the Scott County Detention Center has held people for as long as a year without appointing counsel and without indicting them. A settlement was reached in June 2018 which ended this practice by appointing public defenders at arrest.

The Missouri DOC claimed that an execution secrecy statute protected this information from disclosure. We argued that a state statute cannot frustrate a Federal civil rights plaintiff’s need for information to prove her case. We also stated that a protective order could be entered to require all use of Missouri’s information to be filed under...

The landmark settlement of this federal class action against the City of Jackson, Mississippi, brought an end to that city’s self-described “pay or stay” system that sent hundreds of people to jail each year because they could not pay fines and fees in misdemeanor cases. The City has agreed to give indigent defendants the choice...