Federal court orders Mississippi to redraw Supreme Court district lines
OXFORD, Miss. (WLBT) - The district lines that have governed Mississippi Supreme Court elections for nearly 30 years will have to be redrawn.
On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District handed down a ruling ordering the state to redraw the lines “to ensure Black voters have an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”
The ruling is a win for the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and others who brought suit against the state, arguing that the current district boundaries “severely diluted the voting strength of Black residents in state Supreme Court elections, in violation of the Voting Rights Act.”
“This ruling is a historic victory for fairness and justice in Mississippi,” Sen. Derrick T. Simmons, the state Senate minority leader, said in a statement. “For too long, the lines for our Supreme Court districts diluted the voices of Black voters and denied them a fair opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The court’s decision affirms what we have long known—that our democracy works best when every community has equal representation."
According to a release from SPLC, the high court’s district lines have remained virtually unchanged since 1987.
Plaintiffs in the case contended that the lines cut the Mississippi Delta in half, which prevented candidates preferred by Black voters from being elected.
Jarvis Dortch, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, also was pleased with Tuesday’s ruling.
“This ruling acknowledges that the current Supreme Court district lines silence too many Black Mississippians,” he said. “Thanks to this federal court’s decision, Black voters will have a more equal say in who serves on our state’s highest court.”
A full copy of the ruling is below.
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