Judge refuses attempt to block a Mississippi county’s majority Black juidicial districts, for now
TheGrio...
The legal challenge brought by a former Republican gubernatorial candidate was filed following the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callias, which further gutted the Voting Rights Act.
A former Republican gubernatorial candidate’s lawsuit that called majority-Black districts in one Mississippi county a violation of the Voting Rights Act has been denied, for now.
According to the Legal Defense Fund, the move protects the “only judicial district in the county that gives Black voters a meaningful opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”
“The court’s decision protects DeSoto County voters from this unfounded, last-minute attempt to take away their only meaningful opportunity to participate in judicial elections,” Ming Cheung, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “Callais is not a license for politicians to disempower Black voters.”
Robert Foster, who currently serves as a county supervisor in DeSoto County, filed the suit with the intent that a federal judge would strike down the districts to keep voters from electing new county judges months before the November election.
DeSoto County, which is located on the state’s northwestern border, is the third-most populous county in Mississippi and was won by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election with more than 60 percent of the vote. Since 1976, no Democrat running for the White House has carried the county.
Foster filed the lawsuit shortly after the Supreme Court ruled in Louisiana vs. Callais, which stripped power from minority voters and helped spearhead several gerrymandering and redistricting decisions across the South.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock, citing a ruling from the Supreme Court, stated that changing district lines for a state judicial race this close to an election would be too close and hinder voters.
“The Plaintiffs have not provided sufficient evidence to justify this Court’s involvement,” Aycock wrote.
Foster was joined by other DeSoto County residents who filed a lawsuit in July, alleging that Mississippi’s state legislature gave DeSoto County an additional circuit judge and an additional chancery judge when it redrew the state’s court districts. The judges added in DeSoto County have to be elected from the majority-Black subdistrict.
In recent days, Mississippi lawmakers have convened to redraw House and Senate district maps to reflect population changes in the state. According to a report from the Clarion-Ledger, those districts have to be similar in population and represent communities of interest. Race used to be a contributing factor in how districts were drawn, but following the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callias, it can no longer be considered.
The suit filed by Foster and others in DeSoto County named the three-member State Board of Election Commissioners, including Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson and Attorney General Lynn Fitch, all Republican officials, as defendants.
Aycock’s ruling, despite being seen as a win for Black voters, isn’t the final say in the case. Plaintiffs can still file new litigation and evidence to establish their case further, and Aycock can issue another ruling.