Mississippi Must Redraw Legislative Map With More Majority-Black Districts, Court Rules

he Mississippi Legislature must redraw the state House and Senate district maps to create more Black-majority districts after a federal court ruled on Tuesday that the maps do not offer Black voters equal participation in the political process. The Mississippi Senate has 52 districts and the Mississippi House has 122 state House districts. But despite the fact that about 38% of Mississippi residents are Black, just 15 state Senate districts and 42 state House districts have Black majorities, or about 29% and 34%, respectively. The Legislature drew and adopted the current maps in 2022 after the 2020 Census. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled the Legislature should have created at least two additional Black-majority districts in the Senate and one additional Black-majority district in the state House in the 2022 maps. Lacking Black-majority districts violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and shows the history of racial discrimination in the state, the court said in the decision. The ruling requires the Legislature to create new majority-Black districts in the areas around DeSoto County and the City of Hattiesburg and a new majority-Black district in Chickasaw and Monroe counties. The case came before a three-judge...