In a 5-4 decision,  the Mississippi Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of Curtis Flowers. 

The US Supreme Court had asked Mississippi to re-examine the Flowers case “in light of Foster” a case involving blatant racial bias in jury selection.

I was never confident that Mississippi would respond favorably to this request because the majority of justices are pro-prosecution conservatives.

But a 5-4 split demonstrates how controversial this case has become.  Conservative justices are beginning to realize there is something seriously wrong with the state’s case, but they can’t say so without giving their much-maligned state a black eye.

The Mississippi Court is divided between conservatives with a “nothing to see here, move along” approach and justices who view this case, and prosecutor Doug Evans, with well-earned suspicion.

Friends of Justice has been working with Curtis and his family for a full decade now and you can find the fruit of our labor here.

This fight is far from over.  If you want to know why the Mississippi Supreme Court has lurched to the right in recent years, read the last section of this post.  If you want to understand this case, read the whole thing.

Now the case returns to the federal arena.  So long as we’re talking about the minutiae of jury selection justice will not be served.  This case goes much deeper than that.  Unfortunately, the legal system has no way of acknowledging, or remedying, systemic racism.  In other words, this will be a tough fight, but justice will prevail.  I still believe that.