A federal appeals court on Thursday overturned a Mississippi judge's order that had blocked a state ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in public schools and universities. The panel said his orders contained errors that appeared to be the work of artificial intelligence 1.
The three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, a Ronald Reagan appointee. A preliminary injunction is a temporary order that stops a law from being enforced while a lawsuit continues 1.
What the panel found
Judge Jerry Smith, also a Reagan appointee, wrote the opinion. He said Wingate's earlier temporary restraining order named plaintiffs and defendants who were not parties to the case. It also quoted terms that do not appear in the law and cited evidence that is not in the court record 1.
Wingate acknowledged AI use after Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, accused the court of it. He said a law clerk had used AI to draft the order and that it was docketed by mistake 1. The state's lawyer said at an earlier hearing that the errors were described as merely clerical 2.
From Channel GOPJack Smith: my team was fired for doing their jobsJack Smith · 13K plays · captioned, with the source named
Wingate issued a corrected order. The panel said that version cites a case that does not exist, which looks like another AI error. Because the later injunction relied on the first order's reasoning, the judges said the fake case was arguably part of its "shoddy reasoning" too 1.
The district court — or perhaps, being charitable, its AI agent — ignored and manipulated governing law, apparently to satisfy a policy agenda,
The panel also said Wingate failed to apply the Supreme Court's test for challenges to a law as written, from Moody v. NetChoice. Under that test, a court may strike a law down only if its unconstitutional uses significantly outweigh its constitutional ones 1.
Judge Kurt Engelhardt, a Donald Trump appointee, joined Smith's opinion. Judge Catharina Haynes agreed with the final result but declined to sign most of the opinion 1.
The law and the lawsuit
The law is Mississippi's HB 1193, signed by Gov. Tate Reeves. It bars public K-12 schools and public universities from using DEI practices in employment, academic opportunities and student engagement 2. The ACLU and the Mississippi Center for Justice sued after it took effect 2.
At the August argument, plaintiffs' attorney Rob McDuff said the law is vague and threatens student speech 2. The state argued it regulates institutions, not individual students 2.
Student speech is not government speech. It is clearly protected by the First Amendment.
What happens next
The case goes back to the district court, and the panel ordered it assigned to a different judge 1. The Mississippi attorney general's office, the ACLU of Mississippi and Wingate's chambers did not immediately respond to requests for comment 1.
That matters because the ruling leaves the underlying civil rights questions undecided. The new judge will have to take them up again. It also shows how AI mistakes in a court order can undo months of litigation and cast doubt on the ruling itself.
The Record
- Mississippi's HB 1193, barring DEI practices in public schools and universities, was passed in the 2025 legislative session and signed by Gov. Tate Reeves 2.
- The Fifth Circuit heard arguments over Judge Wingate's injunction, and the state asked that the case go to a different judge 2.
- A Fifth Circuit panel overturned the injunction and ordered the case reassigned, citing apparent AI hallucinations in Wingate's orders 1.
Sources
- Courthouse News, “Fifth Circuit castigates AI rulings in school diversity policy case” (2026-10-23). courthousenews.com/fifth-circuit-castigates-ai-rulings-in-sc
- Star-Herald (Magnolia Tribune), “State argues Fifth Circuit should remand Mississippi's anti-DEI law case to different judge” (2026-09-01). starherald.net/state-argues-fifth-circuit-should-remand-miss
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