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US appeals court upholds Mississippi lifetime voting ban for certain felons

JURIST

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed Thursday that a section of the Mississippi Constitution that banned felons from voting for life did not violate the Eighth or Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution and was thereby constitutional. Therefore, it is not a penal measure, much less a cruel and unusual one.

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US federal judge temporarily blocks Mississippi ‘ballot harvesting’ law

JURIST

Wingate temporarily blocked a Mississippi law Tuesday that made it illegal to “knowingly collect and transmit a ballot that was mailed to another person,” with a few exceptions. The case is in the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi’s Northern Division. District Judge Henry T.

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Mississippi civic leaders file a lawsuit against the Mississippi Supreme Court

JURIST

Mississippi civic leaders Monday filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Supreme Court claiming that the state is violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the US Constitution. J ustice Leslie King is the fourth Black justice to sit on the Mississippi Supreme Court.

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Fourth Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ member sentenced for involvement in assault of Black men

JURIST

A federal judge in Mississippi sentenced former Rankin County sheriff’s deputy Christian Dedmon to 40 years in prison on Wednesday, making Dedmon the fourth in a string of sentences for deputies who pled guilty for their role in the January 2023 beating and torture of two Black men. years in prison earlier on Wednesday.

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Final member of Mississippi ‘Goon Squad’ sentenced for involvement in assault of Black men

JURIST

The last of the six members of the Mississippi law enforcement group known as the “Goon Squad,” Joshua Hartfield, was sentenced to just over ten years in prison on Thursday for his involvement in the January 2023 torturing of two Black men.

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US appeals court to reconsider decision striking down Mississippi Jim Crow-era voter disenfranchisement law

JURIST

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed on Thursday to reconsider a decision from August that a provision of the Mississippi Constitution that permanently prevents people convicted of certain felonies from voting is unconstitutional. Third, even if disenfranchisement were a punishment, it is not cruel and unusual.

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Abortion drug maker drops lawsuit challenging Mississippi restrictions on provision and use of drug

JURIST

An abortion-inducing drug’s manufacturer has dropped its lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s restrictions on the provision and use of the drug, in connection with “the changed national landscape” in the wake of the US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Mississippi Today said that Sen. GenBioPro Inc., GenBioPro Inc.,