Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS) announced on Friday he is calling Mississippi lawmakers to partake in a special legislative session on redistricting for the state’s judicial maps once the Supreme Court decides the outcome of a racial gerrymandering case.
“I don’t typically make news on a Friday afternoon, but today I am going to make an exception: I’m calling a special session,” Reeves posted on X.
The governor said the session will take place 21 days after the Supreme Court rules on the Louisiana v. Callais case. The anticipated opinion will determine whether the presence of two black-majority congressional districts in Louisiana on the state’s 2024 congressional map amounts to unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The pending decision is expected to roll back portions of the Voting Rights Act, with which the map was made to comply.
The ruling has not been handed down yet, but could be issued anytime in the next two months until the Supreme Court starts recess. The high court’s next opinion day is Wednesday, April 29.
“It is my belief and federal law requires that the Mississippi Legislature be given the first opportunity to draw these maps,” Reeves said. “And the fact is, they haven’t had a fair opportunity to do that because of the pending Callais decision.”
“For those reasons, I am using my constitutional authority to allow the Mississippi Legislature to use their constitutionally recognized right to draw these maps once the new rules of the game are known following Callais,” he added.
The Mississippi legislature decided against drawing new maps for state Supreme Court districts during the regular legislative session, while the legal questions surrounding them remain unresolved. The 90-day regular session ended this month, and state lawmakers wouldn’t return without a special session called by the governor.
The Callais case is playing out as a federal judge in Mississippi is weighing a similar redistricting case.
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U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock, an appointee of President George W. Bush, allowed the state legislature to redraw the judicial districts after finding that one of the Mississippi Supreme Court districts violates the Voting Rights Act because the district dilutes black voting rights. The legislature declined to redraw the maps.
Mississippi appealed the lower court’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. The appeal is on hold until Louisiana’s case at the Supreme Court is resolved.