/Fitch to ask US Supreme Court to dismiss lawsuit claiming Jim Crow laws harm public education

Fitch to ask US Supreme Court to dismiss lawsuit claiming Jim Crow laws harm public education

Nonprofit Mississippi News Attorney General Lynn Fitch will ask the U.S. Supreme Court not to grant a lawsuit to stop Mississippi from adhering to the 1868 Constitution that guarantees a uniform school system to all students. Separate schools were created for black and white students in 1890s to replace the language that mandated a uniform school system. Although the language that created separate school systems was removed, the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit claiming that the Mississippi Constitution’s current language expressing the state’s commitment to public education violates federal law. It still fails to meet the 1868 language which states the state should run a uniform school system. The unique issue is whether the state violates the Mississippi Readmission Act (1870, which was passed by Congress after the Civil War. The federal law, which was part of the condition for readmission, prohibits Mississippi from changing its laws in a way that reduces the guarantee of an equally or uniform school system. Will Bardwell, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and others filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group African American women who claim their children get a lower education in schools that are majority African American than students at other schools in the state. Bardwell stated that the lawsuit was filed to “re-establish Mississippi’s obligation to maintain a uniform school system” and to hold the state responsible for failing to uphold that obligation. The lawsuit by SLPC cited numerous instances where African American students are still receiving a poor education in Mississippi. In the 2015-16 school years, 13 of the 19 F-rated school districts had Black enrollments greater than 95%, and all had at least 85% African American enrollment. Colby Jordan, spokesperson for Fitch confirmed that the attorney general plans to file “a petition of certiorari” asking to have the case reviewed by the Supreme Court. Fitch and other state officials want the highest court in the country to dismiss the case, pending the completion of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 9-8 in favor of the recommendation that the case be heard in federal court in Southern District of Mississippi. The case was dismissed by District Judge William Barbour. The state sought to have the case dismissed in 2017 when the SPLC first filed the case. The dismissal motion stated that “at the end of it all, it should be obvious that education is of paramount importance to all state defendants as well as the state’s citizens.” “And, of course, there is always room to improve in this area of the state of Mississippi. The SPLC’s tactics in this lawsuit aren’t, and cannot be, the solution. Officials fear that the SPLC’s tactics in this lawsuit are not and could not be the answer. Edith Jones, Court of Appeals Judge, stated in the minority that the case should not be heard. She said the SLPC’s “request for judgment” would inform Mississippi about its state Constitution and allow it to make federal court orders for major restructuring of state funding. Nearly all states have language within their constitutions that expresses their responsibility to provide a public education system. Mississippi’s 1868-language education language is a roadmap that details the state’s long struggle to address the issue of race. “The stability of a republican government is largely dependent upon the intelligence and virtues of the people,” states the 1868 Constitution. “The Legislature shall encourage, by any suitable means, the promotion intellectual, scientifical, moral, and agricultural improvements, by establishing free public schools by taxation or other for all children aged between five and twenty-one. It shall also establish separate schools for “children from the white and colored races.” This language, which established separate education systems based on race, was not deleted from the Constitution until 1978. There were several amendments that were passed in the 1930s, and infamously in 1960. These amendments continued to weaken the Constitution’s education commitment. In 1960, when the state was facing forced integration by the federal government, the Legislature passed a resolution. It stated that the Legislature could “in its discretion provide for the maintenance or establishment of free public schools” and that the language gave legislators “the discretion to operate a public school system. This was removed in 1987. Now, the language says that the Legislature will provide for a free public schools system “subject to such conditions and limitations” as the Legislature may specify._x000D