State Redistricting Sessions Shift as Courts Rule on Voting Maps in Mississippi and Alabama

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves recalled and dissolved his proclamation for a special legislative session on judicial redistricting after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower court ruling that had found the state's Supreme Court map violated the Voting Rights Act, effectively restoring the existing map. Separately, in Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session of the Legislature, which began Monday, May 4, tied to litigation over the state's congressional and legislative maps following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais; Alabama's attorney general had asked courts to lift an injunction against the state's maps. In Mississippi, Reeves said he is coordinating with the Trump administration on timing for future congressional and legislative redistricting, and House Speaker Jason White formed a select committee to study redistricting; Reeves indicated lawmakers could still redraw the judicial map, but not until the regular session convening in January 2027, ahead of 2028 state Supreme Court elections. In Alabama, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger issued a joint statement supporting the special session, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to address redistricting, though reporting noted the existing federal court order still legally barred the state from redrawing its maps at that time. A federal judge had denied Alabama's emergency redistricting request hours before the state's special session announcement. The Mississippi judicial map dispute remains paused following the Fifth Circuit's action, with no special session scheduled and the matter deferred to the 2027 regular session. In Alabama, the special session proceeded despite the standing injunction, with civil rights groups, including the Mobile NAACP, criticizing both the Louisiana v. Callais ruling and the state's response; NAACP president Robert Clopton Sr. characterized the developments as a reversal of civil rights advancements. It remains unresolved whether or how Alabama's Legislature will be able to implement new maps given the unresolved legal status of the injunction at the time reporting was published.