A Mississippi special legislative session on redistricting has been canceled after Republican Gov. Tate Reeves reversed course following a federal appeals court ruling that altered the legal status of ongoing voting rights litigation affecting the state’s judicial district maps.
Reeves announced Wednesday that he is rescinding the call for lawmakers to meet in Jackson to redraw Mississippi Supreme Court district boundaries, saying recent court developments removed the immediate legal basis for the session.
The move comes after a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision vacated a lower court order that had previously required the state to redraw districts under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, according to the Sun Herald.
The governor said the decision followed agreement by plaintiffs in the underlying case that they would not pursue new elections in 2026 tied to the judicial redistricting matter, eliminating what he described as the urgency for legislative action.
“Because of that, there is no longer any reason for the Legislature to come in on next Wednesday for judicial redistricting,” Reeves said in a radio interview, according to the Clarion Ledger.
The now-canceled session had been set in motion after earlier court rulings suggested Mississippi’s judicial maps diluted black voting strength, prompting a directive for the state to revisit district boundaries.
Those rulings were influenced by broader legal precedent tied to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and ongoing disputes over race-based districting standards.
However, the legal environment shifted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which struck down a congressional map in that state over concerns that race was overly relied upon in drawing districts.
That ruling triggered a reassessment of similar cases across the region, including Mississippi.
Shortly afterward, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Mississippi order that had required judicial redistricting, effectively weakening the immediate court mandate that had driven Reeves’ earlier decision to call lawmakers into special session.
While the broader litigation has not been fully resolved, the ruling removed the current requirement for legislative action.
Reeves initially announced the special session in April, stating lawmakers would return after the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Louisiana case in anticipation of potential changes to election maps.
At the time, Republican leaders framed the effort as preparation for possible court-ordered adjustments, while Democrats criticized it as an attempt to reshape political boundaries for partisan advantage.
Mississippi Democratic Party Chairman Cheikh Taylor previously argued the effort was not a good-faith response to court rulings, saying it reflected an effort to “exploit a pending court ruling” for political gain.
Republican officials, meanwhile, maintained that the existing maps warranted review in light of evolving federal court guidance.
Although the special session on judicial districts has been canceled, Reeves signaled that congressional redistricting remains under consideration.
He said changes to Mississippi’s four U.S. House districts could still be pursued in the future, though he suggested the timing would likely not align with the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
Reeves also indicated that any congressional map revisions could instead be addressed during the 2027 legislative session.
He argued that recent court decisions have reshaped the legal landscape around race-based districting and could open the door for states to revisit existing boundaries.
For now, Mississippi lawmakers will not reconvene for redistricting next week, marking a pause in what has been an ongoing legal and political dispute over how the state’s electoral maps should be drawn under federal voting rights law.
