Mississippi’s new four-district congressional plan, HB 384, sailed through the Legislature early in the 2022 regular session. The House adopted the Joint Legislative Redistricting Committee’s bill on Jan. 6, the Senate concurred five days later, and Gov. Tate Reeves signed it on Jan. 24, 2022. While no new legal challenges were filed against the 2022 map, the state of Mississippi had been under a court order since 2002 regarding its congressional map in a case named Buck v. Reeves, filed in November 2001. The court order required the use of the court-drawn plan until the state could produce a constitutional map that was precleared by the Justice Department. The state used court-drawn congressional maps for the 2002 and 2010 redistricting cycles. When HB384 was adopted in 2022, the court withdrew the long-standing injunction, despite the plaintiff's claims that the new map was a racial gerrymander. The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the plaintiff's appeal in February 2023.

The state legislative process has been even more litigation-prone. The House and Senate adopted their own maps in March 2022. On Dec. 20, 2022, the Mississippi NAACP and voters sued in Mississippi NAACP v. State Board of Election Commissioners, alleging the maps dilute Black voting strength. After a February 2024 trial, a three-judge federal panel ruled on July 2, 2024, that both plans violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and ordered the Legislature to draw additional majority-Black districts. Lawmakers responded with revised maps enacted on Mar. 5, 2025. The court approved the House plan but required a small modification to the Senate map- SD1 specifically- giving final approval on May 7, 2025. The state appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and a jurisdictional statement was filed on Aug. 26, 2025, putting the remedial maps’ long-term fate in the U.S. Supreme Court’s hands.

Last updated: September 2025