Federal Judge Upholds DeSoto County's Majority-Black Judicial Districts Amid Legal Challenge
A federal judge has denied a request to block the election of judges from majority-Black subdistricts in DeSoto County, Mississippi. The lawsuit, filed by Robert Foster, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate and current DeSoto County Supervisor, along with other residents, argued that the creation of these subdistricts violated the Voting Rights Act. The plaintiffs contended that the redistricting, which added an additional circuit and chancery judge to DeSoto County, unfairly required these judges to be elected from majority-Black areas. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled that altering the district lines so close to the November election would be inappropriate, as per U.S. Supreme Court guidelines. The lawsuit was filed against the State Board of Election Commissioners, which includes Governor Tate Reeves, Secretary of State Michael Watson, and Attorney General Lynn Fitch. 
