Reeves cancels special legislative session on Supreme Court redistricting after Fifth Circuit ruling
Gov. Tate Reeves on Wednesday morning said he is canceling the special legislative session he had called for May 20 to redraw Mississippi’s state Supreme Court electoral districts.
The governor made hsi announcement on the Supertalk Mississippi radio show “Mornings with Richard Cross” following the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ May 11 ruling vacating U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock’s August 2025 order requiring Mississippi to redraw its state Supreme Court districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The state’s current Supreme Court electoral map will be used for the 2026 elections. “There is no reason for the legislature to come in,” Reeves said.
Reeves had called the special session on April 23, scheduling it for 21 days after the U.S. Supreme Court’s anticipated ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, a case the court decided 6-3 on April 29. The Callais decision constrained the use of race-conscious remedies under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Both sides in the Mississippi litigation — the state and the Black voter plaintiffs in White v. State Board of Election Commissioners — filed a joint motion on May 7 asking the Fifth Circuit to vacate Aycock’s August 2025 ruling and remand the case to the district court for reconsideration under the framework Callais established. The Fifth Circuit granted that motion on May 11. The injunction blocking the state from using its current Supreme Court districts in the 2026 elections was lifted by the same order.
The case returns to Judge Aycock’s court in the Northern District of Mississippi. Plaintiffs’ counsel has indicated the litigation will continue under the new legal framework. The next Mississippi Supreme Court elections are scheduled for 2028, which is the next opportunity for Aycock’s court to direct a remedial map. Mississippi has not redrawn its Supreme Court districts since 1987.
Reeves said on Wednesday that he expects the Mississippi Legislature to take up redistricting more broadly in the 2027 regular session, which begins in January 2027, if he does not call another special session before then. He said he would like to see Mississippi’s Supreme Court, legislative and congressional maps redrawn. House Speaker Jason White announced on May 6 the formation of a select committee that will spend the remainder of 2026 studying redistricting in advance of the 2027 session. The committee is one of six new House select committees White announced as part of a 2027 legislative agenda.
The select committee’s work will determine what redistricting proposals the legislature considers in 2027, including the state’s congressional map and the legislative districts established by the 2022 reapportionment. State Auditor Shad White and President Donald Trump have both publicly called for Mississippi to redraw the 2nd Congressional District, currently represented by Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson. Reeves did not add congressional redistricting to the May 20 call when he had the legal authority to do so. The longer timeline of the regular session, with input from the select committee and from any further developments in Aycock’s court, will shape what the legislature considers when it convenes in January.
Mississippi’s state Supreme Court electoral map will be used unchanged for the 2026 elections. The state’s congressional districts will likewise be used unchanged for the 2026 elections, the state having already conducted its 2026 congressional primaries in March. The work the Mississippi Legislature has been told to expect in 2027 will determine the maps under which the state’s 2028 elections, including the next state Supreme Court races and the next congressional elections, will be conducted.
Image: Gov. Tate Reeves (via Facebook)
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