Judge orders special elections for Mississippi Supreme Court after Voting Rights Act violation
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge on Friday ordered a special election for the Mississippi Supreme Court after finding that the electoral map was used to select justices Violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in August ordered Mississippi to redraw the map enacted in 1987, concluding that the current arrangement weakened the power of Black voters. Friday’s decision gives the Mississippi Legislature until the end of the 2026 regular session to redraw the map.
Part 2, the primary way plaintiffs can push back against racially discriminatory voting practices, is currently under review challenged In the US Supreme Court.
Aycock wrote that once the legislature approves the new map, he will move quickly to meet deadlines for holding special elections in November 2026.
Aycock also wrote that he would delay a decision on which seats would be subject to special elections until the new map was adopted.
The decision follows a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2022 that argued the current map reduces the black vote in the Central District by cutting Mississippi’s Delta region (a historically black region) in half.
“Mississippi is nearly 40% Black, yet there has never been more than one Black Justice on the nine-member Court,” Ari Savitzky, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, wrote in a statement. “We couldn’t be happier to see justice on the horizon.”
Aycock noted in his August decision that only four Black people serve on the Mississippi Supreme Court. They all held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to that position by a sitting governor.
The Mississippi Secretary of State is appealing Aycock’s August decision. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed proceedings pending the outcome of the SCOTUS case and other related cases.
The Mississippi Secretary of State and Attorney General’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In December, two Mississippi Supreme Court justices were appointed to federal judgeships. Governor Tate Reeves will appoint people to serve until new judges are elected.
Supreme Court elections in Mississippi are nonpartisan.
