The State contended that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing and that the lawsuit filed in August 2025 was too late, outside of the three-year statute of limitations.
A federal judge ruled on Monday that the NAACP’s case against the State of Mississippi for allegedly withholding American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds from Jackson can proceed after the State attempted to have it dismissed last week.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate’s ruling read in part, “This court has examined, as I stated before, the circumstances [and] the allegations of the plaintiffs, [and] has examined the arguments in opposition from the defense, and this court is persuaded that this lawsuit shall go forward.”
Late last week, Wingate heard from the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center, the group representing the individual plaintiffs, that Mississippi withheld $36 million for vital infrastructure repairs by imposing extra conditions on receiving funds from ARPA. The lawsuit claims that Mississippi discriminated against Jackson, where about 82% of the population is black, when it released the Municipality & County Water Infrastructure grant.
The plaintiffs argue that Mississippi has only given JXN Water about $4 million in matching funds, while the State is holding $32 million. The complaint continues by alleging that the federal funds could have assisted in preventing the city’s August 2022 water crisis.
The NAACP and SPLC sued Mississippi’s Department of Environmental Quality, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Finance and Administration.
The State contended that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing and that no specific denial of an ARPA funding request was identified. Additionally, the State argued that the city’s water and sewage crisis was a larger issue dating back to years of neglect, not a lack of ARPA funds.
The Attorney General’s Office, which represents the State, asserts that the plaintiffs have a “beef” with the City of Jackson or JXN Water, not with the State or the state agencies.
The State said if the funds were released as the plaintiffs wished, it would violate federal law, as the ARPA funds required commitment by December 2024 and must be expended by the end of this year.
State counsel also argued that the lawsuit filed in August 2025 was too late, outside of the three-year statute of limitations. Judge Wingate did not rule on that portion of the State’s argument.
-- Article credit to Daniel Tyson for the Magnolia Tribune --
