Reeves cancels special session on Mississippi Supreme Court redistricting

Quitman County voters will not see an immediate redraw of Mississippi’s Supreme Court districts after Gov. Tate Reeves canceled the special legislative session planned for May 20, leaving the map fight in the courts and the county’s political future uncertain for now. The delay matters in places like Quitman County, where district lines help determine how much voice Delta communities have in selecting judges who sit on the state’s highest court.

The cancellation came after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the district court order on May 11, changing the legal footing for the session Reeves had called. The governor said on May 13 that the special session would not move forward. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock had ordered Mississippi’s Supreme Court districts redrawn in August 2025 after finding the existing three-district map diluted Black voting power and violated the Voting Rights Act.

That ruling was aimed at a system that has been largely untouched since 1987. Mississippi’s Supreme Court is divided into three districts, and each district elects three justices to make up the nine-member court. The lawsuit was filed in April 2022 by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Mississippi, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and private firms on behalf of Black Mississippians including state Sen. Derrick Simmons and Ty Pinkins.

For Quitman County, the impact is not theoretical. Senate District 11 includes Quitman, Coahoma, DeSoto, Tate and Tunica counties, so any broader fight over district lines can affect how local residents are grouped and represented in future elections. Reginald Jackson represents the district. In practical terms, the canceled session delays any immediate map changes, campaign planning and election uncertainty that would have followed a redraw.

The county’s demographic profile underscores why the issue resonates locally. The U.S. Census Bureau lists Quitman County’s 2020 population at 6,176, with 73.1% of residents identified as Black alone. The bureau’s July 1, 2025 estimate put the population at 5,364. In a county that small, even modest changes to district design can carry outsized consequences for representation and turnout.

The larger dispute has also exposed a long-running imbalance on the state court. Only four Black justices have ever served on the Mississippi Supreme Court, and civil-rights advocates have pointed to that history as evidence that the current map has constrained Black voters’ influence. Aycock has asked for a joint status report by May 26 on how the case should proceed, leaving lawmakers, election officials and voters waiting for the next move in a fight that remains very much alive.