Cooper v. Noble

                 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

                      For the Fifth Circuit




                           No. 93-7678


             JAMES COOPER, ET AL.,

                                              Plaintiffs-Appellees,


                             VERSUS


             W.B. "Billy" NOBLE, Sheriff of Madison
               County, Et Al.,

                                                         Defendants,

             JESSIE HOPKINS, Sheriff of Madison
             County, ROBERT J. DOWDLE, MARCUS SHARPE,
             DAVID H. RICHARDSON, KARL M. BANKS & J.L.
             MCCULLOUGH, Members of the Madison County
             Board of Supervisors,

                                              Defendants-Appellants.




          Appeal from the United States District Court
            for the Southern District of Mississippi
                       (December 15, 1994)


Before WIENER, EMILIO M. GARZA, and BENAVIDES, Circuit Judges.
EMILIO M. GARZA, Circuit Judge:

     We supplement our prior opinion, see Cooper v. Noble, 33 F.3d

540 (5th Cir. 1994), as follows:

     The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994
("the Act"), P.L. 103-322, 90 Stat. 1827, effective September 13,

1994,   provides   for   periodic   reopening   "at   the   behest   of    a

defendant" of court orders or consent decrees seeking to remedy

prison or jail crowding that violates the Eighth Amendment.            Id.

§ 20409(a) (codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3626(c)).         The Act applies to

all outstanding court orders on the date of its enactment.           Id.   §

20409(b).

     No issue pertaining to the Act was brought before us; the

defendants did not, pursuant to the Act, request a reopening; and,

finally, the District Court proceedings reviewed in this appeal

were conducted prior to September 13, 1994.            Accordingly, the

provisions of the Act are not applicable to our determination of

the instant appeal.




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