Civil rights advocates today challenged Mississippi’s 2022 state legislative district maps for unlawfully diluting the voting strength of Black Mississippians.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Mississippi, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Mississippi Center for Justice, and civil rights attorney Carroll Rhodes are representing the Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP and voters from across the state in the federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit charges that the 2022 maps deny Black residents in areas throughout Mississippi an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect candidates of their choice, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also charges that the state gerrymandered certain district lines by improperly using voters’ race, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.