Appeals court grants extended timeline to redraw Mississippi legislative districts

(CN) — In the aftermath of a July 2 decision that determined the state’s legislative districts violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting the power of Black voters, a three-judge federal panel on Thursday ruled the Mississippi Legislature may redraw the districts during its normal session in 2025.

The plaintiffs in the case asked for an abbreviated timeline so candidates in the redrawn districts could appear on the November 2024 general election ballot, but the panel determined their proposed deadlines were unfeasible.

The panel declined to take judicial notice of special elections held in the state in 2021, in which primaries were eliminated for the sake of time. Rather, they agreed with the defendants that waiting until 2025 will avoid a compressed schedule, allow for primaries and give candidates more time to campaign.

Mississippi State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People led the plaintiffs, who sought for remedial maps to be adopted by the legislature no later than Aug. 2, along with a candidate qualifying deadline of Sept. 6 and the approval of ballots by Sept. 21. That would have given the state only two weeks to redraw the districts and candidates no more than three months to organize, qualify and campaign for the election.

Mississippi’s population of roughly 3 million is about 59% white and 38% Black, the highest percentage of Black residents among all states. The district maps adopted by the largely white, Republican-led legislature in 2022 provided a Black majority in approximately 29% of senate districts and 34% of house districts.

The state, noting the panel’s July 2 decision requires it to redraw nearly one-quarter of its legislative districts, argued it was “likely impossible” to complete by Aug. 2 due to “practical, political, logistical and legal” factors. The plaintiffs contended the earlier timeline would result in a higher voter participation rate and allow new legislators in the districts to fulfill three years of a four-year term before the next election cycle in 2028.

Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in North Carolina v. Covington , the judges determined they were obligated to choose a timeline that is “necessary, fair and workable” by weighing the severity of the state’s violation against the disruption to the election process and the court’s need for restraint over state sovereignty.

Ultimately the panel found in favor of the state, noting that although the July 2 ruling applied to just two of the state’s 52 senate districts and only one of its 122 house districts, redrawing those three would affect the boundaries of dozens of other districts. Mississippi state law also mandates the need for primary elections in legislative elections, except to fill vacancies.

“We find that electing so significant a portion of either house of the legislature in a manner different than what state law requires, meaning without primaries, is a significant disruption,” the panel concluded in its unanimous decision.

The panel included U.S. Circuit Court Judge Leslie H. Southwick, Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III and U.S. District Court Judge Sul Ozerden, all of whom were appointed by President George W. Bush.

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