Fifth Circuit Vacates Injunction on Mississippi DEI Law, Reassigns Case from Judge Over AI-Generated Errors

In a unanimous October 22, 2026, ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction blocking Mississippi's House Bill 1193, a 2025 law restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and certain trainings in public schools and colleges. The panel, led by Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, ordered the case—Jackson Federation of Teachers v. Fitch—reassigned to a different district judge, citing grave errors in U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate's orders, including fabricated facts, nonexistent parties, misquoted law, and a hallucinated legal citation.

The errors originated in a July 2025 temporary restraining order that Wingate later acknowledged was drafted with AI assistance from the tool Perplexity by a law clerk, without standard review. The order incorrectly named plaintiffs and defendants, referenced nonexistent evidence, and cited a nonexistent Fourth Circuit case even in a corrected version. Wingate informed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of the lapse, stating steps were taken to prevent recurrence.

The Fifth Circuit criticized the district court's legal analysis for failing to apply the Supreme Court's Moody framework for facial First Amendment challenges and for overbroad assumptions about the law's scope. It clarified that H.B. 1193 regulates educators and institutions but does not apply to students or certain scholarly activities. The ruling allows the law to take effect pending further proceedings before a new judge.

This decision underscores growing judicial scrutiny of AI use in court filings and highlights tensions between state authority over public education curricula and constitutional claims by teachers' unions and advocacy groups.