Fifth Circuit Clears Mississippi DEI Ban, Faults Judge’s AI Errors

WHO:

ABC News - The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a lower-court ruling blocking parts of Mississippi’s public-school diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ban.

Fox News - U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith described U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate’s ruling as a “botch job.”

ABC News - The plaintiffs are educators, students, parents and activists challenging the law; Fox News describes them as teachers, students and parents.

ABC News - McKenna Raney, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi’s LGBTQ Justice Project, represents the plaintiffs.

ABC News - Mississippi’s Attorney General’s Office represents the defendants and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WHAT:

ABC News - The Fifth Circuit vacated a lower-court ruling, allowing portions of Mississippi’s DEI ban to proceed toward enforcement.

ABC News - The law bars public schools from requiring diversity training or maintaining DEI-related programs, courses and offices; it also prohibits discussion of listed “divisive concepts” concerning race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and national origin. Schools that violate the law could lose state funding.

Fox News - The law bars public funds from going to DEI programs and diversity trainings.

ABC News - The Fifth Circuit said the law does not cover scholarly activities, student activities and groups, or creative engagements. It rejected plaintiffs’ concerns that it would prohibit discussion of civil rights, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Ku Klux Klan, the Fourteenth Amendment, Juneteenth and “Of Mice and Men.”

ABC News - Raney said these specific classroom discussions “can continue unimpeded,” but described the law’s boundaries as “murky.”

ABC News - The Fifth Circuit ordered the case reassigned to a different district judge.

Fox News - Smith’s opinion said the temporary restraining order (TRO) included factual assertions absent from the case record, references to plaintiffs and defendants not named in the complaint, supposed declarations from nonexistent or never-present people, false quotations attributed to H.B. 1193, and erroneous claims about the demise of apparently fictitious programs.

WHERE:

ABC News - The case concerns public schools in Mississippi; the appeal was heard by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

ABC News - The lower-court proceedings were before U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate.

WHEN:

ABC News - The Mississippi ban passed in April 2025.

ABC News - Wingate issued a preliminary injunction in August 2025; the TRO discussed in the ruling preceded it.

ABC News - Plaintiffs have several weeks to petition the Fifth Circuit for rehearing. The law takes effect seven days after the petition deadline or if a petition is denied.

ABC News - The court’s ruling was issued on Thursday.

WHY:

ABC News - Plaintiffs argue the law violates their rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Fox News - Wingate had blocked enforcement after siding with plaintiffs who argued the law violated the First Amendment.

ABC News - Mississippi’s attorneys previously argued that public employees do not have First Amendment rights while acting in a professional capacity.

HOW:

Fox News - Wingate said a law clerk used artificial intelligence to draft an order that was mistakenly docketed; the TRO contained what Smith called AI-related errors.

ABC News - The ban may take effect after the rehearing-petition deadline passes or a petition is denied.

(UPDATED October 24, 2026 06:00 UTC)

A federal appeals court has cleared the way for parts of Mississippi’s public-school DEI ban to move toward enforcement, overturning a lower-court order that blocked it. The law bars schools from requiring diversity training or maintaining DEI programs, courses and offices, and prohibits teaching certain listed concepts about identity and history. Schools that violate it could lose state funding. The Fifth Circuit said the ban does not reach scholarly work, student activities or creative projects, so discussions of civil rights and other contested topics can continue. But the court called the earlier restraining order a “botch job,” citing errors that included references to people and programs not in the record. Judge Henry Wingate said a law clerk had used artificial intelligence to draft the order. The appeals court sent the case to a different judge.