JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The Mississippi Supreme Court ordered an “expedited consideration” for an appeal of a lower court’s ruling on House Bill 1020.
Under House Bill 1020, Capitol police would be given primary jurisdiction within the expanded Capital Complex Improvement District (CCID) boundary lines. Jackson police would have secondary jurisdiction.
The bill will also allow place certain areas within the majority-Black city — most of them majority-white neighborhoods — under the jurisdiction of a new court system. That new system would send those convicted of misdemeanors to state prisons rather than to county jails, as currently happens, the Clarion-Ledger reported.
It would be run by judges appointed by the Republican-appointed Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court and prosecutors appointed by the Republican attorney general, rather than elected.
A Hinds County Chancery Court judge ruled against the three Jackson residents who filed a lawsuit earlier this month.
Oral arguments before the Mississippi Supreme Court are set for July 6, 2023.
