Mississippi

Featured

U.S. Supreme Court
Oct 2025
Mississippi

Voting Rights

State Board of Election Commissioners v. Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP

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鈥檚 latest districting maps fail to reflect the reality of the state鈥檚 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.
State Board Of Election Commissioners V. Mississippi State Conference Of The Naacp. Explore Case.
U.S. Supreme Court
Jun 2022
Bans Off Our Bodies Protest Sign

Reproductive Freedom

Dobbs v. Jackson Women鈥檚 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鈥檚 invitation and overturned Roe eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion.
Dobbs V. Jackson Women鈥檚 Health Organization. Explore Case.
Mississippi
Mar 2017
Dockery v. Hall

Smart Justice

Prisoners' Rights

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.
Dockery V. Hall. Explore Case.

All Cases

21 Mississippi Cases

Love v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
May 2024

Criminal Law Reform

Love v. State

This case in the Mississippi Supreme Court is a post-conviction appeal of a pro se defendant, Mr. Soweto Love, who argued that his guilty plea was not entered knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently. The ACLU鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 桃子视频of Mississippi, filed an amicus brief arguing that the law is on Mr. Love鈥檚 side, but urging the Court to exercise its discretion to inform Mr. Love that a win could resuscitate his charge and expose him to longer sentences. Consistent with the 桃子视频amicus brief, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the trial court had plainly erred by misinforming Mr. Love that his applicable mandatory minimum was one year of imprisonment on each count to which he had pled guilty, when in in fact the mandatory minimum sentence was five years鈥 imprisonment on each count. The Court remanded Mr. Love鈥檚 case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing.
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Love V. State. Explore Case.
Mississippi Supreme Court
May 2024
Love v. State

Criminal Law Reform

Love v. State

This case in the Mississippi Supreme Court is a post-conviction appeal of a pro se defendant, Mr. Soweto Love, who argued that his guilty plea was not entered knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently. The ACLU鈥檚 State Supreme Court Initiative, alongside the 桃子视频of Mississippi, filed an amicus brief arguing that the law is on Mr. Love鈥檚 side, but urging the Court to exercise its discretion to inform Mr. Love that a win could resuscitate his charge and expose him to longer sentences. Consistent with the 桃子视频amicus brief, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that the trial court had plainly erred by misinforming Mr. Love that his applicable mandatory minimum was one year of imprisonment on each count to which he had pled guilty, when in in fact the mandatory minimum sentence was five years鈥 imprisonment on each count. The Court remanded Mr. Love鈥檚 case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing.
Love V. State. Explore Case.
ms
Mississippi
Dec 2023

Voting Rights

Hopkins v. Watson (Amicus)

Mississippi is home to one of the strictest felon disenfranchisement schemes in the nation. The Mississippi Constitution permanently disenfranchises citizens upon a single felony conviction for certain crimes, including minor offenses like writing a bad check. As a result, the loss of rights under Mississippi鈥檚 scheme is mandatory, permanent, and effectively irrevocable. In Hopkins, plaintiffs, a class of formerly incarcerated individuals who lost their right to vote despite completing their sentences, argued that their disenfranchisement violated the Eighth Amendment鈥檚 prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in the plaintiffs鈥 favor and struck down Mississippi鈥檚 disenfranchisement scheme as cruel and unusual punishment. But the Fifth Circuit decided to rehear the case en banc, a rare occurrence in which a case is reconsidered by the entire panel of the circuit鈥檚 active judges.
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Hopkins V. Watson (amicus). Explore Case.
Mississippi
Dec 2023
ms

Voting Rights

Hopkins v. Watson (Amicus)

Mississippi is home to one of the strictest felon disenfranchisement schemes in the nation. The Mississippi Constitution permanently disenfranchises citizens upon a single felony conviction for certain crimes, including minor offenses like writing a bad check. As a result, the loss of rights under Mississippi鈥檚 scheme is mandatory, permanent, and effectively irrevocable. In Hopkins, plaintiffs, a class of formerly incarcerated individuals who lost their right to vote despite completing their sentences, argued that their disenfranchisement violated the Eighth Amendment鈥檚 prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in the plaintiffs鈥 favor and struck down Mississippi鈥檚 disenfranchisement scheme as cruel and unusual punishment. But the Fifth Circuit decided to rehear the case en banc, a rare occurrence in which a case is reconsidered by the entire panel of the circuit鈥檚 active judges.
Hopkins V. Watson (amicus). Explore Case.
ms
U.S. Supreme Court
May 2023

Voting Rights

Racial Justice

Harness v. Watson (Amicus)

Whether Mississippi鈥檚 1890 felony disenfranchisement law, adopted for the express purpose of disenfranchising Black voters, violates the Fourteenth Amendment鈥檚 Equal. Protection Clause.
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Harness V. Watson (amicus). Explore Case.
U.S. Supreme Court
May 2023
ms

Voting Rights

Racial Justice

Harness v. Watson (Amicus)

Whether Mississippi鈥檚 1890 felony disenfranchisement law, adopted for the express purpose of disenfranchising Black voters, violates the Fourteenth Amendment鈥檚 Equal. Protection Clause.
Harness V. Watson (amicus). Explore Case.
Jones v. Mississippi
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021

Juvenile Justice

Jones v. Mississippi

Whether the Eighth Amendment requires a judge or jury to make a finding that a juvenile is 鈥減ermanently incorrigible鈥 before imposing a sentence of life without parole.
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Jones V. Mississippi. Explore Case.
U.S. Supreme Court
Dec 2021
Jones v. Mississippi

Juvenile Justice

Jones v. Mississippi

Whether the Eighth Amendment requires a judge or jury to make a finding that a juvenile is 鈥減ermanently incorrigible鈥 before imposing a sentence of life without parole.
Jones V. Mississippi. Explore Case.
Abraham House of God
Mississippi
Nov 2021

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 桃子视频, the 桃子视频of Mississippi, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Just before holding a vote on the mosque鈥檚 site plan, one Horn Lake Alderman ominously warned, 鈥渋f you let them build it, they will come鈥 and encouraged his fellow board members to 鈥渟top it before it gets here.鈥
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Abraham House Of God V. City Of Horn Lake. Explore Case.
Mississippi
Nov 2021
Abraham House of God

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 桃子视频, the 桃子视频of Mississippi, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Just before holding a vote on the mosque鈥檚 site plan, one Horn Lake Alderman ominously warned, 鈥渋f you let them build it, they will come鈥 and encouraged his fellow board members to 鈥渟top it before it gets here.鈥
Abraham House Of God V. City Of Horn Lake. Explore Case.
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