Civil rights groups on Monday announced a move to intervene in a federal lawsuit filed by a former Republican gubernatorial candidate and others from DeSoto County aiming to dismantle a majority-Black judicial subdistrict..
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Mississippi, Legal Defense Fund and NAACP moved to intervene on behalf of the DeSoto County NAACP and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. in Foster v. Mississippi, the groups announced in a Monday news release. The legal filing came days before a July 22 hearing when a federal judge is set to hear arguments on whether to block the DeSoto County map from going into effect.
The lawsuit was filed on July 2 in the U.S. Northern District of Mississippi by several DeSoto County residents, including former Republican gubernatorial candidate and current county Supervisor Robert Foster. It was filed against the three-member state Board of Election Commissioners, which is comprised of Gov. Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson and Attorney General Lynn Fitch, all of whom are Republicans.
The plaintiffs argue the Legislature’s creation of majority-Black subdistricts for the state judiciary violates the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit came after the U.S. Supreme Court’s May Louisiana v. Callais decision rolled back protections for minority voters during redistricting.
Before that ruling and the new legal landscape it delivered, legislative leaders in 2025 redrew court districts. They changed the districts to account for population shifts and caseload data, but they also allowed for majority-Black subdistricts in certain areas to give Black voters a chance to elect candidates of their choice. A subdistrict is used for a judge to be elected from a smaller area in the main district, but the judge can still hear cases from anywhere in the district.
The Legislature’s actions were “racially motivated and mathematically problematic,” the plaintiffs argue.
In response, the civil rights groups maintain that the plaintiffs are distorting the scope of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of race to draw Black-majority districts remains constitutional when required by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the civil rights attorneys said.
In DeSoto County, home to the growing Memphis suburbs of north Mississippi, Black people make up about 36% of the county’s population. DeSoto County also has the highest rate of growth in its Black population in Mississippi, but Black voters are still a minority.
Since almost all judgeships in DeSoto County are elected countywide, Black voters effectively have no opportunity to elect their preferred candidates and would be shut out from representation on the circuit and chancery courts, the attorneys argue.
“Black voters in DeSoto County make up over one-third of the County’s population,” said Joshua Tom, legal director at the ACLU of Mississippi. “We are seeking to ensure all voters have the ability to elect candidates of their choice in DeSoto County.”
The DeSoto County lawsuit is now before U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock for consideration, the same judge who previously ruled that Mississippi’s state Supreme Court districts violate the federal Voting Rights Act because they don’t give Black voters a chance to elect a candidate of their choice.
The U.S. Court of Appeals overturned Aycock’s initial ruling in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s April Louisiana v. Callais decision. Aycock is now evaluating how that case should proceed.
The DeSoto County plaintiffs asked Aycock to block the DeSoto County map from going into effect, and a hearing is scheduled to take place on July 22. Aycock would likely have to rule quickly because judicial elections will take place in November.
Mississippi Today reporter Taylor Vance contributed to this report
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