Sun Herald - Senate approves judicial realignment for Southern District of Mississippi
News Article
By Patrick Ochs
U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss) supported Senate passage of legislation Tuesday to realign the federal judicial divisions for the Southern District of Mississippi.
HR.2871 consolidates the existing five judicial divisions into four, following realignment recommendations of the federal judges serving in the Southern District of Mississippi, and was unanimously approved in the Senate Tuesday evening.
With Senate passage, HR.2871 will be sent to the White House to be signed into law.
"The federal judiciary in the Southern District of Mississippi recognizes the budgetary constraints on the courts as well as the opportunity to improve the efficiency of the court operations," Cochran said in a release. "I am pleased the Senate has approved this legislation and look forward to its implementation."
Added Wicker in the same release: "Updating these boundaries is a practical step that will serve people in South Mississippi well. This realignment will allow the Southern District to utilize resources more capably and organize in a more efficient and effective manner."
HR.2871 defines the four reconfigured divisions for the Southern District of Mississippi as:
1. Northern Division: Copiah, Hinds, Holmes, Issaquena, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, Madison, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Sharkey, Smith, Warren and Yazoo counties. Court for the Northern Division will be in Jackson.
2. Southern Division: George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River and Stone counties. Court will be held in Gulfport.
3. Eastern Division: Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Jasper, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Lamar, Lawrence, Marion, Perry, Wayne and Walthall counties. Court will be held in Hattiesburg.
4. Western Division: Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Pike and Wilkinson counties. Court will be held in Natchez.
Representatives Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Gregg Harper (R-Miss.) co-sponsored the measure, which was approved 401-0 by the House on Nov. 12.
The divisional realignment will take effect on the date of enactment.
Cochran spokesman Chris Gallegos said in a release that the legislation redraws the division boundaries for the Southern District of Mississippi by eliminating the Eastern Division that has been served by the federal courthouse in Meridian. The legislation will result in approximately $13,000 in first-year cost savings for the judiciary and U.S. Marshals Service, he said.
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