Mississippi lawmakers will return to the state capitol for a special session.
In a Friday afternoon announcement, Gov. Tate Reeves said lawmakers will head back to Jackson to redraw the state’s current Supreme Court electoral map 21 days the federal high court issues a landmark decision in a major voting rights case.
Mississippi’s legislature has been tasked with updating the Supreme Court electoral map, following a federal judge’s ruling that the current one dilutes Black voting power. Judge Sharion Aycock for the Northern District of Mississippi instructed lawmakers to redraw lines within the 2026 regular session, but the legislature elected not to do so before the Supreme Court made a move on a case that could be relevant in Mississippi.
“During the recently completed regular session, the Legislature discussed drawing new maps to comply with a decision from a federal judge from the Northern District of Mississippi – a decision that has been appealed to the 5th Circuit and the appeal has been heretofore stayed pending future U.S. Supreme Court decisions,” Reeves wrote.
The United States Supreme Court is currently mulling Louisiana v. Callais, a case centered around a challenge to Louisiana’s congressional map. In 2022, the Louisiana legislature created a congressional map that only included one majority-Black district out of six, despite African Americans accounting for roughly 33% of the state’s population.
The map was almost instantly taken to court by groups arguing that it violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. A federal appeals court later sided with plaintiffs, and Louisiana lawmakers were tasked with going back to the drawing board. In 2024, the legislature enacted a new congressional map that included two majority-Black districts.
Louisiana’s new congressional map was promptly challenged, with opponents saying creating a second majority-Black district was the result of unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.
“The entire world knows the Callais decision has not yet been handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is a decision that could (and in my view should) forever change the way we draw electoral maps,” Reeves added.
“It is my belief and federal law requires that the Mississippi Legislature be given the first opportunity to draw these maps. And the fact is, they haven’t had a fair opportunity to do that because of the pending Callais decision.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has heard arguments in the Callais case, though a ruling has not yet been handed down. The high court is expected to make a decision in the case sometime in the summer, though a specific date has not been announced.
Reeves is hopeful that the Supreme Court will rule against a notion that maps can be drawn based on race, arguing that “when the government classifies its citizens on the basis of race, even as a perceived remedy to right a wrong, it engages in the offensive and demeaning assumption that Americans of a particular race, because of their race, think alike and share the same interests and preferences.”