The U.S. Department of Justice has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Mississippi Senate for alleged payment discrimination.
Federal legal officials, in the final days of former President Joe Biden’s time in office, began the litigation process on behalf of former Mississippi Senate staff attorney Kristie Metcalfe, who alleged that she had been paid significantly less than white colleagues. Metcalfe served in the state capitol from 2011-19.
In a complaint filed against the Senate on Nov. 8, 2024, the Justice Department alleged that Metcalfe began her tenure as a staff attorney earning a salary of $55,000 while her colleagues, all of whom were white, were making between $95,550 to $121,800 per year. Metcalfe also accused the legislative chamber of giving her coworkers hefty raises just one month after she was hired, widening the pay disparity between the Senate’s one Black staff attorney and her white peers.
At that point, Metcalfe was allegedly making half of what her colleagues were being paid annually.
“This lawsuit makes clear that race-based pay discrimination will not be tolerated in our economy,” former Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said at the time the complaint was filed. “Our work to eliminate race-based pay disparities is about promoting compliance with the law and promoting equity and fairness for all workers.”
On Tuesday, the Justice Department reversed course and voluntarily dropped the lawsuit against the Mississippi Senate. President Donald Trump-nominated Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon made the announcement without specifying why the suit was being dismissed.
Attorneys representing the state never denied that Metcalfe was paid less than her colleagues, but did allege that she was not subject to civil rights laws.
Soon after taking office, Trump ordered the Justice Department’s civil rights division to halt most of its functions. Following that order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Harris approved a 90-day stay in Metcalfe’s case. This was to give the new presidential administration’s DOJ officials time to review the documents.
Two months later, the case was dismissed entirely.