However, Tate Reeves said he expects to redraw state’s four congressional districts before the 2027 elections

On Wednesday morning, Mississippi’s governor, Tate Reeves, said that he is canceling a special legislative session that was scheduled to redraw the state’s supreme court districts next week. However, Reeves, a Republican, noted that he does expect the state to redraw its four congressional districts at some point in the near future.

Reeves, in an appearance on SuperTalk radio, a conservative talk radio network, also said that it would be difficult for the state to redraw the congressional districts in the Republicans favor in time for the upcoming midterm elections, slated for November. Doing so might also hurt Republicans in congressional races.

Republican leader acknowledges ‘likely consequences’ for resisting US president’s demands to redraw map

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South Carolina state senators on Tuesday defied pressure from Donald Trump to approve plans to redraw the state’s congressional map after the US supreme court effectively gutted the Voting Rights Act.

As Republicans scramble to redraw key districts after the US supreme court rendered ineffective a major section of the civil rights law that prevented racial discrimination, Shane Massey, the Republican majority leader in South Carolina’s senate, argued in an extraordinary address that doing so would be against the interest of his state.

Organizers, including Selma foot soliders, say ruling is latest chapter in long battle over Black disenfranchisement in US

The supreme court’s recent decision to gut the Voting Rights Act is an affront to everyone who marched, bled and died to make that law possible, civil rights activists said.

“When we look at the supreme court’s action against the Voting Rights Act, it’s really a kneecap – a way to discriminate, to silence voters who fought so hard for this right,” said Sheyann Webb-Christburg, who, at eight years old, marched with civil rights leaders in Selma, Alabama, in 1965.

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• Virginia supreme court strikes down new congressional maps in win for Republicans

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A reminder that my colleagues are covering the latest on the conflict in the Middle East. Including secretary of state Marco Rubio’s visit to Rome, to mend strained relations with Italian leaders and the Vatican after Donald Trump chided Pope Leo XIV for his stance on the war in Iran.

Rubio told reporters in Rome that the US should get a response on Friday from Iran to its proposal to end the war.

Move comes days after supreme court ruling weakened Voting Rights Act protections against racial gerrymandering

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Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district a week after the US supreme court effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act.

The move cracks Tennessee’s ninth congressional district, which covers Memphis, into three pieces, each of which contains almost exactly a third of the city’s Black voters. The new maps mean that all nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts are Republican-leaning.

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• Tennessee Republicans redraw maps to erase last Democratic, Black-majority district

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Following Marco Rubio’s closed-door meeting with Pope Leo XIV, the state department said that the pair discussed the “situation in the Middle East and topics of mutual interest in the Western Hemisphere”, according to a readout from spokesperson Tommy Pigott.

“The meeting underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See and their shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity,” he said.

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• Jon Husted and Sherrod Brown set for Senate showdown after Ohio primary victories

• Trump-backed Republicans win big in Indiana primaries in coup for president

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Donald Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.

The remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Future of Calvin Duncan’s position as the clerk of New Orleans’ criminal district courthouse remains unclear

Louisiana Republicans eliminated an elected position days before a Democratic exoneree who overwhelmingly won the New Orleans-based post was set to take office on Monday.

A temporary restraining order did allow the exoneree, Calvin Duncan, to take office as scheduled on Monday as the clerk of New Orleans’ criminal district courthouse – though it remained unclear how long his tenure may prove to be.