While congressional and state legislative districts are supposed to be redrawn every 10 years, this is not always the case with state supreme court districts. In fact, Mississippi was set to redraw its districts for the first time since 1987, but the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais led to the cancellation of a court order for the state to do so.
On May 11, after the ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals canceled a U.S. District Court judge’s 2025 order that the Mississippi Legislature redraw its districts to include a majority-Black district to be in accordance with the Voting Rights Act. Subsequently, Gov. Tate Reeves (R) canceled a special session to redraw the districts, though he said the Legislature will likely redraw the judicial, legislative, and congressional maps in the future.
Two states that have recently redrawn their districts are Illinois and Louisiana. The Illinois Legislature redrew the state’s districts in 2021, the first time since 1964. The Louisiana Legislature redrew the state’s districts in 2024 for the first time since 1997 to create a second Black-majority district.
