CASE SUMMARY

In the 2000 and 2010 redistricting cycles, Mississippi’s Governor and state legislature failed to enact new congressional plans and a federal district court was required to adopt plans for each decade. The court’s 2011 injunction specified that the new plan complied with all federal statutory and constitutional requirements and would remain in place “until such time as the State of Mississippi produces a constitutional congressional redistricting plan that is precleared in accordance with the procedures in Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965." After Mississippi successfully enacted a congressional plan in January 2022, several parties to the prior lawsuits filed motions requesting the federal district court evaluate the validity of the new congressional plan for compliance with the court’s previous injunctions, including all federal statutory and constitutional requirements. They also requested the plan mandated by the 2011 judgment be declared unconstitutionally malapportioned and ineffective.

  • On May 23, 2022, the district court vacated its 2011 judgment but declining to rule on the constitutionality of the newly enacted congressional plan as unnecessary to their decision on the 2011 judgment. The court explained the 2011 judgment was no longer equitable given the districts had since become malapportioned and the law on which it was based, § 5 of the VRA, was no longer applicable.
  • Plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 22, 2022. SCOTUS dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction on February 21, 2023.

CASE LIBRARY

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Jackson Division - No. 3:01-cv-855 [together with No. 3:11-cv-717]

U.S. Supreme Court - No. 22-492 [Buck v. Watson]