Jackson, Miss. A judge on Friday ordered a special election for the Mississippi Supreme Court after earlier finding that an electoral map was being 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, which was enacted in 1987, concluding that the current configuration weakens the power of black voters. Friday’s ruling gives the Mississippi Legislature until the end of its 2026 regular session to redraw the map.
Section 2, the primary way plaintiffs can challenge racially discriminatory election practices, is currently in effect. challenge In the US Supreme Court.
Once the Legislature approves the new map, Aycock wrote that she will move quickly to meet any necessary deadlines to hold the special election in November 2026.
Aycock also wrote that she would postpone determining which seats would go into special elections until after the new map is approved.
The order comes on the heels of a 2022 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued that the current map divides the Mississippi Delta — a historically black region — in half, diluting the black vote in the central region.
“Mississippi is nearly 40% Black, but has never had more than one Black justice on the nine-member court,” Ari Savitsky, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, wrote in a statement. “We couldn’t be happier to see justice on the horizon.”
In her August ruling, Aycock noted that only four blacks had served on the Mississippi Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central Region and were first appointed to the position by the incumbent governor.
The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office is appealing Aycock’s August ruling. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has 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. Gov. Tate Reeves will appoint replacements to serve until new judges are elected.
In Mississippi, Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan.