Supreme Court to hear arguments over Barbour’s pardons

JACKSON — The freedom of 10 people is at stake and dozens of others could lose their hopes for a cleansed record in the legal battle over former Gov. Haley Barbour’s pardons.

The Mississippi Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case tomorrow.

Five inmates remain jailed because Attorney General Jim Hood persuaded a judge to hold them until courts decide whether the pardons met state constitutional requirements.

Cynthia Stewart, an attorney representing Azikiwe Kambule, one of five men held under a temporary restraining order, says Kambule and others might sue for wrongful detention if the pardons are upheld.

Hood says it’s a simple constitutional issue, that some pardon recipients didn’t publish a required public notice. Legal experts say the matter is much more complex.