U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves scheduled the hearing for April 12, at the federal courthouse downtown Jackson. Carlos Moore, a Mississippi attorney, filed the suit February 29. He claimed that the Mississippi state flag which bears a Confederate battle emblem violates his constitutional rights, and asked for its removal. Moore, an attorney from Grenada, claims that the flag’s existence infringes the Equal Protection clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. He also claims that the flag “has to be shown to incite violence and terror both in Mississippi and in a southern sister state with a similar history racial discrimination.” Moore stated in his initial complaint that he found the Confederate battle emblem in the Mississippi flag “painful, threatening, and offensive.” I object to the flag flying on public property. It continues to fly, which causes me to suffer from stigmatic, emotional, and physical injuries.” Gov. Phil Bryant is the only defendant in this case. He has supported the flag’s current form for many years. Bryant’s spokesperson Clay Chandler dismissed the case as “frivolous” on the day it was filed. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said that the flag is hurting Mississippi and that he would not voice his personal opinions in defense of the governor. The suit was dismissed by the attorneys for Bryant, which included Hood, Douglas Miracle, and Harold Pizzetta. They argued that Moore has not sustained a legally cognizable injury and that Moore’s “alleged injury to the state flag is not reasonably traceable.” Reeves also detailed the symbolism behind the Confederate battle emblem and tied it to white supremacy in an order to allow both sides to file briefs. Reeves stated that “if this were a court based on facts and figures along, it would be difficult to see how Confederate battle emblem could remain in Mississippi state flag.” Reeves wrote, “But this court is both a Court of Facts and Law. “But this is both a court of facts and law.” The hearing was announced online on the trial’s docket. It will take place in Jackson at 1:30 p.m.