President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act. Credit: War Department.
With the Nazi army sweeping across Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Service Act, which required all men between 26 and 35 to register for the military draft. The decision also meant that Black men — unlike in the past — could join all branches of the U.S. military.
“America stands at the crossroads of its destiny,” Roosevelt declared. “Time and distance have been shortened. A few weeks have seen great nations fall. We cannot remain indifferent to the philosophy of force now rampant in the world. We must and will marshal our great potential strength to fend off war from our shores. We must and will prevent our land from becoming a victim of aggression.”
In December 1941, Japanese air forces bombed Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor, and the nation was thrust into war. With this attack on America, men, both Black and white, flooded recruitment centers to sign up.
Everyone over the age of 6 months should get the latest COVID-19 booster, a federal expert panel recommended Tuesday after hearing an estimate that universal vaccination could prevent 100,000 more hospitalizations each year than if only the elderly were vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 13-1 for the motion after months of debate about whether to limit its recommendation to high-risk groups. A day earlier, the FDA approved the new booster, stating it was safe and effective at protecting against the COVID variants currently circulating in the U.S.
After the last booster was released, in 2022, only 17% of the U.S. population got it — compared with the roughly half of the nation who got the first booster after it became available in fall 2021. Broader uptake was hurt by pandemic weariness and evidence the shots don’t always prevent COVID infections. But those who did get the shot were far less likely to get very sick or die, according to data presented at Tuesday’s meeting.
The virus sometimes causes severe illness even in those without underlying conditions, causing more deaths in children than other vaccine-preventable diseases, as chickenpox did before vaccines against those pathogens were universally recommended.
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID has ticked up modestly in recent weeks, CDC data shows, and infectious disease experts anticipate a surge in the late fall and winter.
The shots are made by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, which have decided to charge up to $130 a shot. They have launched national marketing campaigns to encourage vaccination. The advisory committee deferred a decision on a third booster, produced by Novavax, because the FDA hasn’t yet approved it. Here’s what to know:
Who should get the COVID booster?
The CDC advises that everyone over 6 months old should, for the broader benefit of all. Those at highest risk of serious disease include babies and toddlers, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with chronic health conditions including obesity. The risks are lower — though not zero — for everyone else. The vaccines, we’ve learned, tend to prevent infection in most people for only a few months. But they do a good job of preventing hospitalization and death, and by at least diminishing infections they may slow spread of the disease to the vulnerable, whose immune systems may be too weak to generate a good response to the vaccine.
Pablo Sánchez, a pediatrics professor at The Ohio State University who was the lone dissenter on the CDC panel, said he was worried the boosters hadn’t been tested enough, especially in kids. The vaccine strain in the new boosters was approved only in June, so nearly all the tests were done in mice or monkeys. However, nearly identical vaccines have been given safely to billions of people worldwide.
When should you get it?
The vaccine makers say they’ll begin rolling out the vaccine this week. If you’re in a high-risk group and haven’t been vaccinated or been sick with COVID in the past two months, you could get it right away, says John Moore, an immunology expert at Weill Cornell Medical College. If you plan to travel this holiday season, as he does, Moore said, it would make sense to push your shot to late October or early November, to maximize the period in which protection induced by the vaccine is still high.
Who will pay for it?
When the ACIP recommends a vaccine for children, the government is legally obligated to guarantee kids free coverage, and the same holds for commercial insurance coverage of adult vaccines. For the 25 to 30 million uninsured adults, the federal government created the Bridge Access Program. It will pay for rural and community health centers, as well as Walgreens, CVS, and some independent pharmacies, to provide COVID shots for free. Manufacturers have agreed to donate some of the doses, CDC officials said.
Will this new booster work against the current variants of COVID?
It should. More than 90% of currently circulating strains are closely related to the variant selected for the booster earlier this year, and studies showed the vaccines produced ample antibodies against most of them. The shots also appeared to produce a good immune response against a divergent strain that initially worried people, called BA.2.86. That strain represents fewer than 1% of cases currently. Moore calls it a “nothingburger.”
Why are some doctors not gung-ho about the booster?
Experience with the COVID vaccines has shown that their protection against hospitalization and death lasts longer than their protection against illness, which wanes relatively quickly, and this has created widespread skepticism. Most people in the U.S. have been ill with COVID and most have been vaccinated at least once, which together are generally enough to prevent grave illness, if not infection — in most people. Many doctors think the focus should be on vaccinating those truly at risk.
With new COVID boosters, plus flu and RSV vaccines, how many shots should I expect to get this fall?
People tend to get sick in the late fall because they’re inside more and may be traveling and gathering in large family groups. This fall, for the first time, there’s a vaccine — for older adults — against respiratory syncytial virus. Kathryn Edwards, a 75-year-old Vanderbilt University pediatrician, plans to get all three shots but “probably won’t get them all together,” she said. COVID “can have a punch” and some of the RSV vaccines and the flu shot that’s recommended for people 65 and older also can cause sore arms and, sometimes, fever or other symptoms. A hint emerged from data earlier this year that people who got flu and COVID shots together might be at slightly higher risk of stroke. That linkage seems to have faded after further study, but it still might be safer not to get them together.
Pfizer and Moderna are both testing combination vaccines, with the first flu-COVID shot to be available as early as next year.
Has this booster version been used elsewhere in the world?
Nope, although Pfizer’s shot has been approved in the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, and Moderna has won approval in Japan and Canada. Rollouts will start in the U.S. and other countries this week.
Unlike in earlier periods of the pandemic, mandates for the booster are unlikely. But “it’s important for people to have access to the vaccine if they want it,” said panel member Beth Bell, a professor of public health at the University of Washington.
“Having said that, it’s clear the risk is not equal, and the messaging needs to clarify that a lot of older people and people with underlying conditions are dying, and they really need to get a booster,” she said.
ACIP member Sarah Long, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, voted for a universal recommendation but said she worried it was not enough. “I think we’ll recommend it and nobody will get it,” she said. “The people who need it most won’t get it.”
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Mississippi’s infant mortality rate reached a five-year high in 2021, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The death rate of babies under one year of age rose from 8.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020 to 9.39 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available. Nationally, the rate remained relatively stable from 2020 to 2021.
A total of 330 Mississippi babies died before their first birthday in 2021.
Mississippi continues to have the highest rate of infant mortality of any state at nearly twice the national average of 5.44 infant deaths per 1,000.
The report does not break down specific causes of death by state, though Mississippi’s infant mortality review committee will release a report with more details.
“These numbers are extremely concerning, but we will have to wait on the Fetal Infant Mortality Review Committee reports to determine the causes of increased mortality rates. I suspect that we will see that the COVID-19 pandemic, high rates of congenital syphilis, and the issues of poverty and access to care had a detrimental effect on infants in the state,” State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney said in an emailed statement to Mississippi Today.
The committee releases reports annually.
In the six years ending in 2021, Mississippi saw a 900% increase in babies born with syphilis – a sexually transmitted disease that is passed to an infant during pregnancy. The disease can cause miscarriages and death, and children that survive can have major malformations and life-long complications.
The state Health Department responded by adopting a regulation that mandates physicians test pregnant people for the disease. Before that, Mississippi was one of only six states in the nation that did not require syphilis screenings in pregnancy by law.
Nationally, the leading causes of infant mortality are: congenital malformations; disorders related to short gestation and low birthweight; Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID); unintentional injuries and maternal complications.
Dr. Anita Henderson, the past president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said she is “very concerned” by the latest numbers.
“Black babies are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday compared to white babies. There are several preventable causes of death that are increasing, especially here in Mississippi. Our Sudden Unexpected Infant Death rate includes accidental suffocation and Mississippi, sadly, has the highest SUID rate in the nation,” according to the 2020 data, she said.
Henderson also pointed to several other drivers of the problem: the state's high rate of premature birth, its maternal health provider shortage and the difficulty low-income women have in receiving timely prenatal care.
“Presumptive eligibility for moms on Medicaid would facilitate timely access to prenatal care for that critical, first trimester OB visit. Over half of the counties in Mississippi do not have an OB or a delivering hospital,” she said. “Lack of access is dangerous and potentially deadly for Mississippi moms and babies.”
If a state offers presumptive eligibility, a low-income pregnant woman who is pregnant and seeking medical services will be presumed eligible for Medicaid coverage and the medical provider can provide prenatal care and be reimbursed by Medicaid – presumably allowing her to receive prenatal care earlier. Mississippi does not currently have presumptive eligibility for pregnant women.
Mississippi is also one of only 10 states that has not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving hundreds of thousands of Mississippians without health insurance. It is one of only three states that has neither expanded Medicaid or provides pregnancy presumptive eligibility as of 2020, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
This legislative session, lawmakers approved extending health care coverage for mothers on Medicaid to one year after giving birth. Moms had previously only been covered for 60 days postpartum. Proponents of the extension said there is a direct link between healthy mothers and healthy babies.
The Mississippi Delta saw some of the highest rates of infant mortality in the state in 2021 at 13.7 infant deaths per 1,000 births, according to state Health Department data. The rate represents 32 babies who died – the highest rate for the area since 2017.
As early as this week, four temporary judges could be appointed to the Hinds County Circuit under House Bill 1020.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry Wingate read an abbreviated opinion from the bench Wednesday finally dismissing Supreme Court Justice Michael Randolph from a lawsuit brought by the NAACP on behalf of Jackson residents challenging the judicial appointments Randolph is directed to make under the law.
Randolph has been unable to make the appointments because of a temporary restraining order that has been in place since May. Now that he is no longer part of the lawsuit, he can proceed with those appointments.
“He is commanded and must obey,” Wingate said about Randolph making the appointments as HB 1020 dictates.
This decision comes several months after Wingate issued a June opinion dismissing Randolph from the lawsuit under judicial immunity – a legal principle that shelters judges from civil lawsuits when they perform judicial acts. Randolph’s attorneys argued the appointments under HB 1020 are a protected act, while the plaintiffs disagreed.
The plaintiffs also argued that the chief justice’s dismissal from the lawsuit only applied to his ability to appoint temporary circuit court judges, but not the appointment of one judge to the Capitol Complex Improvement District court court created by HB 1020. The plaintiffs asked for Wingate to clarify his order, which the judge did Wednesday.
FILE – U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate smiles, Aug. 19, 2022, in Jackson, Miss. On Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, Wingate ruled that the Meridian Public School District can come out from under federal supervision in a decades-old desegregation lawsuit. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
From the bench, Wingate said he stands by his June order and has expanded it to address Randolph’s appointment of a CCID judge, saying that is also a covered judicial act.Under HB 1020, that appointment would not have to be made until January 2024, which is when the CCID court would be created.
He didn’t accept the plaintiff’s argument that because the CCID is an inferior court like a municipal court, its judicial appointments would need to be made by the municipality’s governing body, such as the city council. Instead, Wingate said the CCID court is more of a “hybrid court” that resembles a municipal court but has differences crafted by the Legislature that set it apart.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs still seek to block any judicial appointments from happening. Last week, they explained a potential workaround to Wingate.
With Randolph no longer on the lawsuit and bound by a restraining order, the plaintiffs are asking Wingate to approve a request to amend the lawsuit complaint by adding several defendants: two state officials, the five unknown court appointees and two yet-to-be-known prosecutors appointed to the Capital Complex Improvement District court by the attorney general.
The next step would be for Wingate to approve a temporary restraining order preventing the four yet-to-be-known circuit court appointees from assuming office.
Attorneys for the defendants, including the public safety commissioner, Capitol Police chief and attorney general, have objected in written motions and in the courtroom to the plaintiff’s requests.
Attorney Rex Shannon, who represents the defendants, said the court can’t issue a restraining order if the parties are unknown, which would make it impossible to be able to properly serve and process them. He also said that the plaintiff’s proposed method of notifying the appointees of the restraining order through a legal notice in the Clarion Ledger would not be sufficient.
Mark Lynch, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the need to maintain the status quo, prevent any harm to the plaintiffs and urgent nature remain, which is why Wingate should approve the motions to amend the complaint and issue the new restraining order.
“We don’t have to wait long to find out who the John and Jane does are,” Lynch said.
Wingate said he will decide on those rulings and several other outstanding ones – including a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case – after he issues his full, official order about Randolph.
A separate state challenge of HB 1020 is ongoing, but the state Supreme Court has not issued a ruling. It has been two months since oral arguments took place.
Mississippi Public Employee Retirement System leaders will ask the Legislature for a cash infusion during the 2024 session.
The board of trustees for the public pension plan is “seeking a cash infusion or direct appropriation from the Legislature,” PERS Executive Director Ray Higgins said in emailed response to questions from Mississippi Today.
The rare cash infusion request is one of a litany of proposals board members plan to offer to the Legislature in an attempt to ensure the financial viability of the public pension plan, which provides retirement benefits for most state and local government employees, including public school teachers.
Normally the Legislature does not provide direct appropriations to PERS. Instead, it is supported by governmental entities paying 17.4% of payroll for each employee. In addition, employees pay 9% of their payroll into the system, and the system also receives investment earnings.
In recent years, efforts have been made to improve the system’s financial viability that has been negatively impacted by multiple factors, including a decrease in the number of government employees. A reduction in the public sector workforce means less funds for the system.
PERS is providing or will provide benefits to about 325,000 members, including current employees, retirees and others who used to work in the public sector but no longer do.
It is not clear how much cash the PERS board might ask the Legislature to consider pumping into the program.
“Officially, yet to be decided,” Higgins said of the amount of money the board will request. “However, it could and likely will be a general request for funding and consideration of a new or dedicated (continuing on a yearly basis) revenue stream. It will also likely include a request for direct appropriations and/or funding for the estimated costs associated with the benefit increases from the late 90s and early 2000s.”
Higgins has said that money was never provided to pay for the enhanced benefits that were provided to PERS beneficiaries in the 1990s and 2000s.
The request would be made at a time the Legislature is flush with funds, thanks in large part to a major rush of federal money. The state had about $3 billion in reserves before the 2023 session and still has well over $1 billion.
According to a study by the Pew Charitable Trust, the Mississippi pension plan would need an additional $1.4 billion to reach its “net amortization benchmark,” which is the amount needed to prevent the plan’s unfunded liabilities from increasing. The system’s current funding ratio is about 61%, meaning it has the assets to pay the benefits of 61% of all the people in the system, ranging from the newest hires to those already retired. Of course, all of the people in the system will not retire at once. Theoretically, though, it is recommended that retirement systems have a funding ratio of 80% or more.
The system has $30 billion in assets and is underfunded by about $20 billion.
During an August meeting, the PERS board also voted to propose a new benefits structure for new hires. Details of what the new benefit structure would look like are still being contemplated, but it could include a new method of providing cost of living adjustments instead of the current system, where a 3% cost of living adjustment is guaranteed each year. The change to the COLA would be for new employees only.
Another recommendation could be a change to the payout method for the cost of living increase for future employees.
Under the current system, many people take the annual 3% cost of living increase as one lump sum payment at the end of the year, often referred to as “the 13th check.” The PERS board recommendation is to make the default choice for retirees to receive the cost of living increase divvied up as part of their monthly retirement checks. The employees would have to request specifically for the cost of living increase to be paid as a 13th check instead of monthly.
Changing the payout method from a lump sum to monthly for the annual cost of living increases would not result in less money for retirees, but it would give more flexibility to the system since it would not be taxed with paying the entire total at one time at the end of the year.
The board did vote to increase the employer contribution rate for each employee by 2% starting with the new fiscal year in July. This means the employer contribution rate would increase to 19.40% of payroll in July.
The board anticipates additional increases in the employer contribution rates in coming years with a possible projection of a rate of more than 27% of payroll.
“This potential future employer contribution rate will be updated in subsequent actuarial reports (typically presented each December) beginning with the next one for the state fiscal year ending June 30, 2023,” Higgins said.
The board has sole authority to increase the employer contribution rate, but it is up to the Legislature and local governmental entities to find the funds to pay for the increases or to cut other services to provide the funds.
It is estimated the total cost of the 2% increase to all governmental entities is $138 million per year.
The board was considering increasing the employer contribution rate earlier, but delayed the increase after an outcry by legislative leaders during the 2023 session. At that time, Higgins committed to providing the Legislature with recommendations from the board to help with the system’s long-term financial viability.
It will likely be years before Jackson State University secures enough funding to fix its housing shortage as efforts are underway to seek legislative support in the absence of a deep-welled endowment.
The university is estimated to lack 1,600 beds, according to the new director of campus operations.
Jackson State’s funding needs, which appears to be the largest bond request any university submitted to the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees, totals more than $136 million for water infrastructure improvements, renovation of a dorm that’s been offline for two years, and the construction of a new residence hall, according to budget documents.
Some of that money has already been granted to Jackson State, but it’s unclear how much. Last year, the university got $15 million in legislative funding mainly for repairs and renovations.
The total amount of state support that Jackson State has received in the last 10 years is a little more than $56 million, according to the university.
There are manifold reasons for this gap between Jackson State’s financial need and the amount of money the historically Black university can realistically expect to receive in state funding, according to lawmakers and university officials.
Those include but are not limited to the continuation of historical underfunding, an anti-Jackson bias, the university’s recent presidential turnover and the relative lack of Jackson State alums at the Capitol who can independently advocate for the university outside the system-wide lobbying efforts undertaken by IHL.
“Anything that had the word ‘Jackson’ leading into a request was looked at with askance,” said Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson. “Unfortunately I think the university may have been victimized by association.”
Some feel the university has made clear that its infrastructure needs help are beginning to negatively impact its enrollment. After the Jackson water crisis last fall left students living on campus without air conditioning or functioning bathrooms, the university’s enrollment fell by 1%. JSU’s fall enrollment was 6,906 students, according to IHL.
“It’s all on the Senate, IHL and everybody else,” said Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson.
IHL maintains its four-year funding bond process, which is based on historical state support, helps like-sized universities receive equitable funding. Still, the state’s three largest predominantly white institutions — University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi — come out on top.
As a system, a spokesperson wrote via email, IHL lobbies for all eight institutions each session.
“As the state’s urban research university located in the Capital City, Jackson State has a unique mission and a rich history of academic excellence and community engagement,” wrote Kim Gallaspy, assistant commissioner for government relations at IHL. “The additional state support we have received in the past few sessions is evidence that Legislators recognize the value of the university system, including JSU.”
For HBCUs across the country, underfunding persists on a systemic level, not because of any one university president or government agency, said Andre Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings Metro whose research focuses on race and structural inequality.
“These issues are long standing and durable, and they will require durable movements in response,” Perry said. “It’s not gonna be one piece of legislation or you know, a savior or a football coach that brings funding to Jackson State. It will be a sustained movement because the movement to deny black institutions is such.”
Jackson State’s new executive director of campus operations,Vance Siggers, has a different perspective. He said the university needed to take ownership of projects that were in its control and make sure lawmakers were receiving a clear message about the importance of student housing vis-a-vis a new stadium.
Housing “is the biggest priority,” he said. “Not ‘one of’ — ‘the.’ And that’s not the message that was received (by lawmakers).”
Siggers said he has been working to change that. Last month, he took lawmakers on a tour of the campus facilities. This is done every year, but Siggers said he conducted the largest tour in a decade, inviting faculty and staff.
“There is a new breeze blowing on campus,” he said.
One of the stops included McAllister Whiteside, a female dormitory that has been offline since 2021 due to mechanical, electrical and utility failures and equipment that needs to be repaired. The university is hoping to revamp it into a suite-style apartments with $20 million in state funding, some of which it has already received.
“The way your campus looks is your front porch,” he said. “When you see a house with a neat front porch, you see a house that is welcoming. Nine times out of 10 you say that’s probably a pretty good house to visit. If the yard is out of control and you have weeds and all that time of stuff — I don’t know what the situation is at that house but a lot of times you’d say they need to do some tuning in there.”
Jackson State is also seeking funding to build new dorms on land the university recently acquired from its development foundation, a sale that has been in the works for years. The new housing would significantly reduce the university’s backlog, Siggers said.
But the plan is reminiscent of a failed 2014 plan to build a $47 million dorm complex on campus.
Put on hold by the IHL board after Carolyn Meyers resigned in 2016 amid the university’s plummeting finances, the project is one of several campus upgrades that have been proposed, only to hit some kind of roadblock. The university and some supportive lawmakers considered pursuing a public-private partnership, but that did not materialize.
So what’s different about this time? The leadership, Siggers said.
“(Elayne) Hayes-Anthony is Jackson State,” he said. “She’s done so much for the state of Mississippi. She’s done so much for this nation. And there are a lot of people out there cheering.”
It’s not clear yet if Hayes-Anthony will become the university’s next permanent president. Last month, the only JSU alumnus on the board voted against allowing her to apply for the role.
Jennifer Hopping, executive director of the American Heart Association, talks about the organization’s Maternal Wellness Rx initiative. The initiative focuses on supporting the health and well-being of pregnant and new moms through nutrition security, blood pressure regulation, emotional health support and infant CPR education.
Mississippi health news you can’t get anywhere else.
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David Eckert, the Clarion Ledger’s excellent Ole Miss beat reporter, and Rick Cleveland both attended the Ole Miss-Tulane game in New Orleans Saturday. Tyler Cleveland watched on TV. The three discuss the Rebels’ closer-than-it-sounds 37-20 victory and what the future might hold for Lane Kiffin’s Rebels.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, a national Democratic Party-affiliated organization that supports statehouse races, announced Wednesday that it is aiming to boost candidates competing in five Mississippi legislative races this fall.
“Democrats in Republican-controlled states like Mississippi are on the front lines of standing up to the GOP’s radical agenda,” interim DLCC President Heather Williams said in a statement. “These Democratic candidates are running to fight back against Republican extremism and ensure that all Mississippians are represented in their state legislature.”
The five Democratic candidates the organization is supporting, all challenging Republican incumbents, are:
Pam McKelvy Hamner (Senate District 2 in DeSoto County)
Andre DeBerry (Senate District 10 in Union, Lafayette, Marshall and Tate counties)
Donna Niewiaroski (House District 12 in Lafayette County)
David Olds (House District 24 in DeSoto County)
Annita Bonner (House District 86 in Wayne, Perry and Greene counties)
The five candidates are running in legislative districts that are currently represented by Republicans but are located in suburban areas or have districts with a higher percentage of Black voters and college-educated voters.
It’s unclear exactly how much money the organization plans to invest in the races, but it’s notable the group, for the first time, is promoting candidates in Mississippi, a state dominated by GOP politics. Republicans control the Legislature, holding supermajority control of both the House and Senate — a reality that is unlikely to change in November.
Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor told Mississippi Today that it is encouraging to see that the DLCC is investing in Mississippi and believes it could be a step forward to flipping seats occupied by conservative lawmakers.
“Mississippi should not be a state that national politics have given up on,” Taylor said. “In fact, we want to be sure we’re becoming more and more attractive because of the infrastructure we’re building here in Mississippi.”
The Oberlin rescuers at the Cuyahoga County Jail in April 1859. Photo by T.J. Rice. Credit: Library of Congress.
A federal marshal arrested John Price in Oberlin, Ohio, under the Fugitive Slave Act. Price was moved to nearby Wellington, but when abolitionists learned of the arrest, they stormed the hotel where he was being held, later helping him cross the Canadian border to freedom.
A federal grand jury indicted 37 for their involvement. Not to be outdone, Ohio officials arrested the federal marshal, his deputies and several others involved in Price’s arrest. Officials agreed to release them in exchange for all but two of the 37 indicted.
The two remaining men received light sentences. The Ohio Supreme Court upheld the convictions, leading to a protest of more than 10,000 in Cleveland.
Because of his support of the Fugitive Slave Act, the chief justice lost reelection to the court. Two participants in the rescue — Lewis Sheridan Leary and John A. Copeland — joined John Brown’s 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. Leary was killed during the attack. Copeland was captured and executed.
