Matthew Steffey, a law professor at Mississippi College, called Fitch’s motion “extraordinary,” not just because she essentially bigfooted Owens, but also because it pits a white Republican attorney general against a Black Democratic district attorney, both of whom are running for re-election this fall.

The dispute, Steffey said, mirrors the political and racial dynamics of an ongoing legal battle over white Republican state officials’ attempts to assert more control over the justice system in Jackson, the majority-Black and heavily Democratic state capital and the seat of Hinds County.