Redistricting Ruling - What Mississippi’s Legislature Has to Decide
Part Two, MS Supreme Court and Congress
Last week I wrote about the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais and the special session Governor Tate Reeves had called for May 20. Since then, the federal appeals court vacated the order that required Mississippi to redraw, and this week the Governor called the session off.
So what now?
The lawsuit isn’t over. The case is back before Judge Sharion Aycock, who has given both sides 14 days to file on next steps. The plaintiffs have agreed they will not push for new judicial elections in 2026 — that commitment is what let the Governor to cancel. But Aycock will still have to rule again, now under the tougher Callais standard.
The bigger story is what the Governor did NOT do. Many in his own party wanted him to expand the call to include congressional redistricting — in plain English, take a run at redrawing Bennie Thompson’s 2nd Congressional District. Reeves did not. He pointed out that when Mississippi was forced to redraw state legislative districts in 2025, Republicans actually LOST their state Senate supermajority. Redistricting is not always the political win conservatives assume. But Reeves was clear about the longer fight, saying “the tenure of Congressman Bennie Thompson’s reign of terror over the 2nd Congressional District is over.” He expects the Legislature to redraw congressional, state legislative, and state Supreme Court districts before the 2027 state elections.
Here is where I want to be honest with my fellow conservatives. Mississippi’s current districts — judicial, legislative, and congressional — were drawn largely on race. They were drawn that way to comply with the Voting Rights Act as the courts interpreted it before Callais. A Republican state senator admitted on television last week that Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District was drawn the way it is specifically to protect Bennie Thompson. That admission applies to more than just MS-2.
If we are serious that maps should not be drawn around race, the honest conclusion is that Mississippi’s maps should be redrawn. Not to defeat any one congressman. Not to grow the Republican margin. Redrawn on an honestly neutral basis — following county lines, communities of interest, population and geography — the same way we would draw them if we did not know in advance which party benefited.
The dilemma is whether we can actually do that. Will the Legislature commit, before the first line is drawn, to a process that is principled even when the outcome is uncertain? That is the question conservatives ought to be asking now, while there is no court order forcing anyone’s hand. Callais gave us the legal room to draw cleaner maps. It did not give us a moral free pass to draw them around politics instead.
One thing worth saying: the lawsuit that started all of this is about judicial districts, not congressional ones. The justices who decide cases that affect Mississippians every day are elected from districts that haven’t changed since 1987. I have not seen a single Facebook or X post about it. We argue about Bennie Thompson because he is on television. We rarely argue about who sits on our Supreme Court — even though it probably matters to Mississippians more than who sits in Congress.
The worry has lifted for now. No special session. No court order. Districts unchanged. But this is a pause, not an ending. The fight will be back in 2027.
This isn’t going away. Whatever happens next, conservatives have a choice to make. We can stick to the principles we’ve argued for years, or we can set them aside when it’s convenient. I’d rather we stick to them. That means making sure every Mississippian, no matter where they live or how they vote, has a real voice in choosing who represents them.