Federal court orders Mississippi to redraw Supreme Court district lines

OXFORD, Miss. (WLBT) - The district lines that have governed Mississippi Supreme Court elections for nearly 30 years will have to be redrawn.

On Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District handed down a ruling ordering the state to redraw the lines “to ensure Black voters have an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.”

The ruling is a win for the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and others who brought suit against the state, arguing that the current district boundaries “severely diluted the voting strength of Black residents in state Supreme Court elections, in violation of the Voting Rights Act.”

“This ruling is a historic victory for fairness and justice in Mississippi,” Sen. Derrick T. Simmons, the state Senate minority l