The Mississippi Legislature must adopt new state Senate and House maps with Black-majority districts during its 2025 session and conduct elections to fill those new seats, a federal three-judge panel ruled on Thursday. 

The judges previously ruled in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Mississippi Conference of the NAACP and Black voters from across the state that the districts that were drawn in 2022 by the state Legislature diluted Black voting strength.

After its ruling, the panel invited the plaintiffs and state officials to submit briefings on whether the state should adopt new maps this year and conduct special elections in November to fill those seats. 

The NAACP argued that special elections should take place in November, while the defendant, the all-Republican State Board of Election Commissioners, argued the elections should take place next year because it would be nearly impossible to redraw the districts in time for November elections. 

This would also have required lawmakers to return to Jackson in a special session this year to draw and approve new districts.

“The equitable weighing process we must use when selecting the proper remedy for Voting Rights Act violations leads us to conclude that the Mississippi Legislature need not act until its regular 2025 session,” the judges wrote in a unanimous opinion. “Because there are no general, statewide elections in 2025, the Mississippi Legislature must also determine the most appropriate dates in 2025 for elections in the affected districts.”

READ MORE: Federal judges order Mississippi Legislature to create more Black districts, may prompt 2024 elections

Rob McDuff, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice, represented the plaintiffs in the litigation. He told Mississippi Today in a statement that he would have preferred the special elections be held in 2024, but he understood the Court’s reasons for waiting until 2025.

“The Legislature should promptly comply with the Voting Rights Act and adopt plans that are in line with the districts that the court approved as reasonable in its decision,” McDuff said. “We will continue advocating for Black Mississippians in this process until a complete remedy is in place.”

The panel is composed of U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden, Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan and U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Leslie Southwick. President George W. Bush appointed all three Mississippi judges to the federal bench. 

The State Board of Election Commissioners, composed of Republicans Attorney General Lynn Fitch, Gov. Tate Reeves and Secretary of State Michael Watson, could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state has a Black population of about 38%. Currently there are 42-Black majority districts in the 122-member House and 15 Black majority districts in the 52-seat Senate.

The panel ruled earlier this month that Black-majority Senate districts should be drawn at least in the DeSoto County area in north Mississippi and in the Hattiesburg area in south Mississippi. In addition, a new Black majority House district should be drawn in the Chickasaw County area in northeast Mississippi.

However, the Legislature will still have to tweak many districts in the state to accommodate for the new Black-majority maps. Defendants had argued that the redrawing would affect a quarter of the state’s 174 legislative districts and require new elections.

State legislative leaders did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday on the new ruling.

Update: This story has been updated with comments from Rob McDuff, an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Justice.

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