A federal appeals court has upheld a 132-year-old, Jim Crow-era election law drafted by Mississippi’s past white supremacist leadership to undermine Black voters, despite the court admitting that the language was “steeped in racism” when it was adopted in 1890.
Following a five-year legal challenge to strip the measure from the state’s constitution, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals determined that Mississippi has made enough changes over the following decades to override the racist “taint” of its foundation.
