Fifth Circuit Removes Judge Wingate From Anti-DEI Case, Vacates Injunction Over AI-Cited Errors
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 23
Fifth Circuit Removes Judge Wingate From Anti-DEI Case, Vacates Injunction Over AI-Cited Errors
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 23
Summary
A Fifth Circuit panel vacated Judge Henry Wingate’s preliminary injunction against Mississippi’s anti-DEI law and took the rare step of reassigning the case to a different judge.
Judge Jerry Smith’s opinion called Wingate’s handling a “botch job,” citing factual mistakes, a nonexistent case citation described as an apparent AI hallucination, and repeated misstatements of the record and the law.
The court said Wingate’s July temporary restraining order wrongly listed 11 nonparties as plaintiffs, misnamed 2 defendants, and cited declarations from 4 people who were not in the record and may not exist.
The panel also found Wingate misapplied Supreme Court precedent, including Moody v. NetChoice’s test for facial First Amendment challenges and Trump v. CASA’s limits on overbroad injunctions.
The lawsuit, brought by teachers, parents and students challenging Mississippi’s restrictions on DEI practices in public schools and universities, now returns to the Southern District of Mississippi for a new judge to reconsider.