Lawsuit urges Mississippi to create new state Supreme Court map
Civil Rights groups have filed a lawsuit arguing that Mississippi needs to draw a majority-black State Supreme Court District to ensure black voters have a chance to elect a candidate of their choice.
That lawsuit was filed yesterday on behalf of black residents by the ACLU and Southern Poverty Law Center, among others.
Mississippi’s three Supreme Court districts were last updated in 1987, all are majority-white.
The lawsuit says the districts violate the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution by diluting black voting strength.
About 38 percent of Mississippi residents are black, but just one of nine current justices is black.
Four black justices have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court in the state’s history, never more than one at a time.
