The Daily Populous Sunday December 21st, 2025 night edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by AudibleNod

Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.

Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge on Friday ordered special elections for the Mississippi Supreme Court after earlier finding that the electoral map used to select justices violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock in August ordered Mississippi to redraw the map, which was enacted in 1987, concluding the current configuration dilutes the power of Black voters. The Friday ruling gives the Mississippi Legislature until the end of its 2026 regular session to redraw the map.

Section 2, which is the primary way plaintiffs can push back against racially discriminatory election practices, is currently being challenged at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Once the legislature approves a new map, Aycock wrote that she will move quickly to meet any deadlines necessary to hold the special elections in November 2026.

Aycock also wrote that she will defer deciding which seats will be subject to a special election until after the new map has been adopted.

The order follows a 2022 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argued the current map cuts Mississippi’s Delta region — a historically Black area — in half, diminishing the Black vote in the Central District.

“Mississippi is nearly 40% Black, but has never had more than one Black Justice on the nine-member Court,” Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, wrote in a statement. “We couldn’t be happier to see justice on the horizon.”

Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel. Follow on

In her August ruling, Aycock noted only four Black people have served on Mississippi’s Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to the position by a sitting governor.

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office is appealing Aycock’s August ruling. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has stayed its proceedings pending the outcomes of the SCOTUS case and other related cases.

The Mississippi Secretary of State and Attorney General’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In December, two Mississippi Supreme Court justices were appointed to federal judgeships. Gov. Tate Reeves will appoint replacements to serve until new justices can be elected.

In Mississippi, Supreme Court elections are nonpartisan.

merc534 on December 20th, 2025 at 14:03 UTC »

The current map was drawn in 1987 by court order to be constitutional, but now the population and demographics have changed. Now the populations are a bit out of whack, District 1: 990,000 people, District 2: 934,000, District 3: 1,038,000.

Map is now described as unconstitutional because District 2 has dipped below 50% black (now 49.5% black). Without that I don't think they would ever have redrawn the map (unless VRA went away).

Ok_Speed_3984 on December 20th, 2025 at 12:34 UTC »

This order came out the same day that DOJ released an agreement with 11 states, including MS, to allow DOJ to decide who gets to vote in those states.

meninblck9 on December 20th, 2025 at 11:44 UTC »

It’s only 6:43am and I am done with the internet for the day. Nothing positive. Sad.

The judge gave the state legislature until the end of its 2026 session to redraw the map; once that’s done, special elections would likely take place in November 2026. ￼

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office is appealing the ruling, and that appeal is linked to a broader case before the U.S. Supreme Court about Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act