Fifth Circuit vacates order requiring Mississippi to redraw state Supreme Court districts

• Governor Tate Reeves called it “a good day for those who believe in the principle that all Americans are created equal. A good day for law and order. A good day for Mississippi!”

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the liability order in Mississippi’s state Supreme Court judicial redistricting case.

The move comes after the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana v. Callais where the nation’s highest court struck down Louisiana’s congressional redistricting that added a new majority-minority district, saying that lawmakers relied too heavily on race.

The high court’s 6-3 ruling deemed racial gerrymandering unconstitutional as it had been practiced under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

Section 2 was being used as the justification for U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock’s order that mandated the redrawing of Mississippi’s Supreme Court district lines set in 1987 to accommodate greater black voting strength. The case has now been remanded back to Aycock’s court.

Governor Tate Reeves (R) shared the Fifth Circuit’s action on Monday, saying, “Post Callais, both the plaintiffs and the State jointly requested this action.”

Reeves called it “a good day for those who believe in the principle that all Americans are created equal. A good day for law and order. A good day for Mississippi!”

The governor said in late April that he would call lawmakers into a special session 21 days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Callais to address state Supreme Court redistricting. That timeline would see lawmakers back in Jackson next week.

Soon after the ruling in Callais, leaders in both the Mississippi House and Senate instructed staff attorneys to prepare analysis on the ruling’s impact on state Supreme Court redistricting in Mississippi ahead of the likely special session.

READ MORE: Mississippi House, Senate plan for special session after U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Callais

Now that the U.S. District Court’s order on redistricting the judicial districts has been vacated and remanded back to the court, whether Governor Reeves still plans to call lawmakers to the Capitol is unclear. Messages to the governor’s office following the Fifth Circuit’s action were not immediately returned.

Governor Reeves is also facing pressure from the White House and many leaders in Mississippi Republican circles to add congressional redistricting to a special session call ahead of the November midterms. However, given that Mississippi has already held its primary elections, unlike in other states, prospects for such a move are also unclear.