Court order nullifies Mississippi's reason to redraw state supreme court districts. Will Gov. Reeves cancel his special session?
After federal appeals court action, Mississippi no longer has a legal reason to hold a special legislative session to redraw state Supreme Court districts. But, for now, it appears that Gov. Tate Reeves will move forward with a controversial special legislative session later this month.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a joint motion on Monday to vacate U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock’s 2025 order requiring Mississippi to redraw its state supreme court electoral districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, remanding the case to Aycock for further proceedings under the framework the U.S. Supreme Court established in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29. The Fifth Circuit’s order lifts the injunction that had blocked Mississippi from using its current Supreme Court districts in the 2026 elections.
Reeves’ office did not immediately respond to questions about the session’s status. Reeves issued a statement on Monday describing the Fifth Circuit’s action as “a good day for those who believe in the principle that all Americans are created equal. A good day for law and order.” On social media, Reeves wrote that “post Callais, both the plaintiffs and the State jointly requested this action.”
The case, White v. State Board of Election Commissioners, was brought in 2022 by Black Mississippi voters, including Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons of Greenville, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Mississippi, the Southern Poverty Law Center and private counsel. Aycock ruled in August 2025 that Mississippi’s current supreme court electoral map, which has not been redrawn since 1987, dilutes the voting strength of Black Mississippians in the Central District in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The state appealed. The Fifth Circuit had stayed the appeal pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Callais.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29 that courts cannot order states to redraw district lines solely to create majority-minority districts, holding that race-conscious redistricting under Section 2 cannot survive strict constitutional scrutiny solely because a state seeks to comply with the Voting Rights Act. The decision narrowed the legal standard under which Aycock’s August 2025 ruling had been issued. Both sides in the Mississippi litigation jointly filed a motion at the Fifth Circuit on May 7 asking the appellate court to vacate Aycock’s order and remand the case, citing what they described in the motion as the appellate court’s “normal practice” of vacating a judgment below and remanding for reconsideration when intervening Supreme Court precedent affects a case on direct appeal. The Fifth Circuit granted the motion on Monday.
Plaintiffs’ counsel signaled that the litigation will continue at the district court level. The ACLU of Mississippi said in a statement Monday that the organization is “ready to return to court” and will show that “even under Callais’ restrictive standards, Mississippi’s state supreme court districts are discriminatory and violate federal law.” The case returns to Aycock’s court for further proceedings under the framework Callais established. The Mississippi Supreme Court districts also govern elections for the Public Service Commission and the Transportation Commission. The court’s Central District currently has one Black Supreme Court justice, Leslie King, who initially reached the bench through gubernatorial appointment before later winning election.
Monday’s ruling places Mississippi in a posture in which the current Supreme Court districts may be used for the 2026 elections while the underlying Section 2 claim returns to district court under a narrowed legal standard. The Republican-led legislature is no longer under federal court order to redraw the map by a date certain. House Speaker Jason White, who had announced 15 Republican appointments to a House redistricting committee on May 6, has not announced whether the committee will continue its work. Mississippi has not redrawn its Supreme Court districts since 1987, and no Black candidate has ever won election to the Mississippi Supreme Court without first being appointed by a governor.
Image: Mississippi Capitol rotunda (via Creative Commons)
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