Fifth Circuit orders reassignment in case involving AI-prepared order

Circuit Judge Jerry Smith wrote the Fifth Circuit’s opinion, which ordered the case reassigned to a different district judge on remand.[1] The panel said the district judge’s errors were serious enough to warrant reassignment.[1] It also instructed the new judge to apply federal law as interpreted by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit.[1] The order establishes who will handle the case next and the legal framework the new judge must use.[1] The evidence provided does not state a date for the decision or identify the replacement judge.

Judge Henry Wingate issued the original temporary restraining order on July 20, 2025.[1] Wingate later said a law clerk had used AI to prepare that order.[1] The Fifth Circuit criticized the district court’s orders for including factual assertions unsupported by the record, and said the district court got the law wrong.[1] The evidence does not say that the panel found AI itself caused those errors. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch’s office had argued that Wingate’s apparent misuse of generative AI compromised the judicial process.[2]

Mississippi enacted House Bill 1193 in April 2025.[1] The law was designed to keep public education funds from being spent on DEI initiatives and similar programs, and it prohibits regulated institutions from endorsing or promoting DEI through course materials.[1] The plaintiffs filed suit in June 2025, two months after the law passed.[1] They brought a pre-enforcement facial challenge, claiming the law violated the First Amendment and the void-for-vagueness doctrine.[1] The evidence provided describes the challenge and reassignment, but does not state how the court ultimately resolves the plaintiffs’ claims.