A federal appeals court on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, vacated a ruling that had blocked a Mississippi law barring diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in public schools. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also reassigned the civil rights lawsuit to a different district judge. The decision followed an admission by the original presiding official, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, that a previous order in the case contained errors generated by artificial intelligence.
The case involves a challenge to a state law enacted last year by Mississippi's Republican-led government. The law prohibits government-run educational institutions from mandating activities such as diversity training or promoting DEI. Teachers, professors, students, and advocacy groups filed the lawsuit, arguing the ban violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Judge Wingate had previously issued a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to block the law's implementation.
In the 5th Circuit’s opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith criticized the lower court’s handling of the case, stating the ruling contained "sloppy edicts" and factual assertions not supported by the record. Wingate had informed Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in a letter that the errors resulted from a law clerk's unvetted use of the AI platform Perplexity, which led to the inclusion of fabricated names and nonexistent legal authorities. Judge Smith wrote that the court, or its "AI agent," appeared to manipulate governing law to satisfy a policy agenda.
The appeals court provided specific instructions for the next judge, noting the law does not apply to students. The panel stated that while the state has broad power to regulate publicly funded speech and curricula, the new judge must balance those interests against the individual speech rights of faculty. Robert McDuff, an attorney for the plaintiffs at the Mississippi Center for Justice, said the ruling addressed major concerns by clarifying that school discussions regarding race, sex, and civil rights remain permitted.
The ruling affects public school teachers, university professors, and students across Mississippi by lifting a legal block that had prevented the state's DEI ban from being enforced. The law targets government-run educational institutions, prohibiting them from mandating diversity training or promoting DEI concepts. While the appeals court clarified that students are not restricted by the law and that classroom discussions on race and sex can continue, teachers and professors now face a regulatory environment where mandated DEI activities are prohibited by state law.
The scale of the impact involves the public education system of Mississippi, though the source does not provide specific numbers for the total population of educators or students affected. The concrete change involves the removal of mandatory diversity programs previously required by their institutions. The ruling follows the appeals court's citation of "hallucinated" AI errors as a reason for reassigning the case to a new judge.
The knock-on effects extend to how federal courts manage the integration of AI technology. This case highlights the lack of uniform rules for AI use among judges and follows other instances where courts have sanctioned lawyers for using fabricated AI citations. The immediate next step is the reassignment of the case to a new district judge who will re-evaluate the law's constitutionality based on the 5th Circuit's balancing test. No specific date for the next hearing was reported.