US judge condemns Mississippi city’s ‘crime cancer’ as he removes state justice from lawsuit

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court chief justice cannot be sued over a state law that requires him to appoint some judges in the capital city of Jackson. That’s according to a ruling Thursday from a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate did not address residents’ constitutional rights in his ruling, saying he will do that later. But, Wingate wrote that “Jackson has a crime cancer.” In removing Chief Justice Mike Randolph as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the NAACP, Wingate said judges can’t be sued for most official acts. The NAACP says appointing judges harms residents in the majority-Black city of Jackson. Most Mississippi judges are elected.