Federal Court Uses Callais Ruling to Uphold Discriminatory DeSoto County Redistricting Plan

Read a PDF of our statement here.

Yesterday, a federal district court issued a ruling denying a Voting Rights Act (VRA) challenge brought by Black voters and community organizations in DeSoto County, Mississippi. The case, Harris v. DeSoto County, used Section 2 of the VRA to challenge the county's discriminatory redistricting plan used to elect members of the Board of Supervisors and four other elected bodies in DeSoto County.

In 2022, the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors adopted a redistricting map that created five white-majority voting districts, splitting the majority-Black city of Horn Lake nearly in half. Not a single Black person has been elected in one of those districts in the past 20 years, despite the fact the Black population of DeSoto County has grown from less than 12% to over 36% since the 2000 Census.

The ruling was directly influenced by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which drastically rewrote the standards for proving a case of racial vote dilution under Section 2 of the VRA.

The case was brought by two DeSoto County voters, the DeSoto County NAACP, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. They are represented by the Legal Defense Fund, Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, ACLU of Mississippi, and voting rights attorney Amir Badat.

In response to the ruling, counsel and plaintiffs issued the following statement:

"The court's decision drew upon testimony from 36 witnesses, 12 days of trial, and over 300 exhibits, yet was delivered in only 16 pages. It is shameful that one Supreme Court case will be used as a means for courts to avoid grappling with the devastating evidence of racially discriminatory redistricting plans. And it is repugnant that a record of discrimination in county government as voluminous as the one presented in this case can be largely ignored because of these new, artificial barriers to relief created by Callais.

"We brought this case because the denial of full and equal voting rights has caused irreparable harm to Black DeSoto citizens who have suffered from wide disparities in county employment rates, school resource distribution, health care outcomes, and economic opportunity.

"This case is about power, voice, and fairness. Black residents showed up, organized, and asked for fair representation during the redistricting process, but their calls were ignored. The decision unfortunately allows that injustice to stand. But the Black community will continue to demand fair maps, equal representation, and accountable governance."

Learn more about Harris v. DeSoto County.

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