Court to hear Noxubee Co. voting right case

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments for the week of Nov. 3 in Noxubee County Democratic Party Chairman Ike Brown’s appeal of a decision that he violated the rights of the county’s white voters.

Brown has appealed a 2007 ruling by U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee in what federal prosecutors said was the first lawsuit to use the Voting Rights Act on behalf of whites.

The Justice Department accused Brown of trying to limit whites’ participation in local elections in violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, written to protect racial minorities when Southern states strictly enforced segregation.

Clarion Ledger
9/8/8