The federal government announced yesterday that 60 federal court facilities will be closed in order to save money. Here is link to a site that contains the list of facilities.
The only Mississippi facility on the list is the Meridian courthouse, which is home to the Southern District’s Eastern Division. I don’t know how much the federal courtroom in Meridian gets used, but I know it does get used. I remember hearing that Judge Jordan presided in a products liability trial in Meridian a few years back.
The announcement raises the interesting question of what will happen to the current divisions, which are broken down by county. Perhaps in Mississippi it will lead to massaging the division list to make trials more convenient for jurors. For instance, with Western Division trials in Natchez, Yazoo County should be moved from the Western to the Jackson Division. They could move Pike County to the Western Division to balance it out. Plus, the Eastern Division counties would have to go somewhere.
Interesting stuff for litigators. Hardly anyone else will care.