Search Results for: mississippi

The US Supreme Court on Thursday, in a 5-4 decision, allowed the enforcement of an Arizona election law requiring prospective voters to provide “satisfactory evidence of citizenship” upon registering to vote. However, the court kept two lower court blocks on related laws that prevent those with unverified citizenship status from voting in presidential elections or [...]

A US federal court dismissed a Republican National Committee (RNC) challenge on Sunday to a Mississippi law that allows validly cast mail-in votes to be counted for up to five business days after election day. Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi decided that since there is [...]

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. Dennis Hopkins, a disenfranchised voter, claimed that the Mississippi Constitution created a “cruel and [...]

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Thursday mostly upheld a lower court’s decision that prevents the rejection of absentee ballots with address variations for upcoming elections. This decision is expected to reduce the number of ballot rejections in the state. The legal dispute deals with interpreting an absentee ballot witness’s address, which involved a January [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled on Friday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adequately evaluated emission impacts when it approved the expansion of a gas pipeline operated by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. in Pennsylvania and New York, allowing the project to move forward. The environmental group Food & [...]

The US Department of Justice on Thursday found that the Phoenix Police Department and the City of Phoenix have engaged in excessive force, discrimination and general civil rights violations against Black, Latino, Native American and other marginalized communities. The findings were published in a 126-page report, ending an investigation that began in 2021. Attorney General Merrick [...]

Sharon Basch is a rising 3L at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and a JURIST staff correspondent in Washington DC this summer.  On Tuesday I attended a hearing called by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions to examine women’s freedoms, focusing on access to abortions across the United States [...]

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) released a 67-page report Tuesday detailing its findings from monitoring the 2022 US midterm election and showcasing strategies to combat racial inequality during upcoming election cycles. The report, entitled Democracy Defended, specifically focused on voter experiences in seven of the nation’s southern states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, [...]

Former Philadelphia Police Officer Edsaul Mendoza, accused of shooting an unarmed 12-year-old, pleaded guilty to 3rd-degree murder on Friday, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s Office. In March 2022, Mendoza shot Thomas “TJ” Siderio during a “tactically unsound” foot pursuit. The former officer had been charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, [...]

The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would define biological sex in binary terms based on individuals’ reproductive systems rather than their gender identity. House Bill (HB) 111 would amend the Alabama Code to define sex-based terms, provide policy relating to sex and gender identity, allow public entities to establish some [...]