MS: Another stay blocks law to create separate court in Jackson
A federal judge temporarily blocked the controversial House Bill 1020 from becoming law Friday.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate granted the motion in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP, which would stop Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Michael Randolph from appointing four temporary special judges to the Hinds County Circuit Court, according to court documents.
The NAACP had asked Wingate to block the chief justice from appointing judges under the law while HB 1020 is being challenged in court. This is the second time the NAACP has asked for a temporary restraining order on the law passed during the 2023 legislative session, according to court records.
The urgency of this renewed motion is acute – Defendant Randolph could at any moment make the appointments that violate Plaintiffs’ rights, and his counsel was unable to give any assurances that he would not do so,” attorneys for the NAACP wrote Thursday.
The temporary restraining order will be in place until a May 22 hearing at the federal courthouse in Jackson. The law is scheduled to go into effect July 1.
https://mississippitoday.org/2023/05/12/federal-judge-blocks-hb-1020-from-becoming-law/
