A sex discrimination lawsuit against the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees will proceed with the board and each member named as defendants, a federal appeals court has ruled. 

Debra Mays-Jackson, former vice president and chief of staff at Jackson State University, alleges that despite being qualified to lead the historically Black university, she was passed over in 2023 in favor of a man with less experience. IHL trustees had claimed qualified immunity, a legal protection from liability for government officials, in an effort to dismiss the case. 

In its ruling Wednesday, the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a U.S. district court’s previous decision that Mays-Jackson had adequately pleaded an equal protection violation. The federal appeals court ruling affirms that the lawsuit can continue, and not whether any discrimination occurred. 

John Sewell, a spokesman for the IHL board, said trustees do not comment on pending litigation. Lisa Ross, Mays-Jackson’s attorney, told Mississippi Today she had no further comment. 

For now, Mays-Jackson’s case will return to the federal district court, where it will proceed discovery, summary judgement or trial. The 5th Circuit judges will not weigh in on the final ruling or decision of the case. 

In November 2023, Ross filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of the U.S. Court District for Mississippi. It was the same day the IHL board hired Marcus Thompson, then an IHL deputy commissioner, to lead JSU. Thompson was not one of 79 applications for the role, according to Mays-Jackson’s lawsuit. 

Mays-Jackson’s lawsuit, which represents one side of a legal argument, also accuses individual IHL board members of denying her an interview and voting to appoint Thompson. The federal court ruled those allegations, if true, are enough to show possible constitutional violations by each person named in the lawsuit.