Both the State defendants and the Mississippi Republican Executive Committee filed direct appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 3, 2025, after a federal district court invalidated the State’s House and Senate maps on Voting Rights Act grounds. The case is Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP v. State Board of Election Commissioners.
The NAACP suit against Mississippi’s 2022 state legislative maps began with a complaint in December 2022 alleging racial gerrymandering and Voting Rights Act violations. A three-judge federal panel denied the State’s motion to dismiss in April 2023, oversaw discovery through that autumn, and held a bench trial early in 2024. On July 2, 2024, the panel rejected the racial-gerrymander claims but ruled that two Senate districts and one House district violated § 2 of the Voting Rights Act, striking those districts and inviting a legislative fix. Two weeks later, on July 18, 2024, the court deferred any immediate remedy so the Legislature could redraw lines in its 2025 regular session.
The Legislature passed new House and Senate plans on March 7, 2025, and after briefing, the panel approved all of the House plan and most of the Senate plan on April 15, 2025, but found that the DeSoto-County area still diluted Black voting strength. On May 7, 2025, the court substituted a revised version of those Senate districts proposed by the State Board of Election Commissioners, emphasizing adherence to traditional redistricting principles and minimizing special elections.
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