On February 20, 2013, he was criticized by Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" for failing, as Mississippi Secretary of State in 1995, to file paperwork to make Mississippi the last state in America to ratify the 13th amendment which ended slavery. However, on February 22, Constance Slaughter-Harvey, a black woman who served as Molpus' Assistant Secretary of State, told the media that she was in charge of filing the paperwork in 1995 and did file it. Many people familiar with Molpus' history called for "The Daily Show" to correct the report and apologize to Molpus. Stewart apologized on the February 25th show, praising Molpus' record on civil rights, and emphasizing that neither Molpus nor his staff requested the apology.