Gov. Reeves Appoints Celeste Wilson to Mississippi Supreme Court

Gov. Tate Reeves announced July 27 that he had appointed DeSoto County Circuit Judge Celeste Embrey Wilson to the Mississippi Supreme Court. Wilson is scheduled to begin serving August 1 in Northern District 3, Place 1, and will remain on the court until a special election fills the seat.

The appointment brings the number of sitting justices to eight on the nine-member court. One other seat remains vacant, and Mississippi voters do not yet have a confirmed date, district map or ballot plan for choosing permanent successors.

Wilson will fill Chamberlin’s seat

Reeves appointed Wilson to Northern District 3, Place 1, the seat formerly held by Robert P. Chamberlin. Chamberlin left the state Supreme Court after the U.S. Senate confirmed him as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Wilson has served as a circuit judge in DeSoto County since February 2017. Before that, she was DeSoto County’s county court judge from January 2009 through February 2017 and worked for seven years as an assistant district attorney in Mississippi’s 17th Judicial District.

The governor’s announcement says Wilson’s term will begin August 1 and continue until the seat is filled through a special election. The appointment is complete; the future election is not.

The court still has another vacancy

Wilson’s appointment fills one of two recent vacancies created when Mississippi Supreme Court justices moved to the federal bench. The other seat is the one formerly held by James Maxwell, who also became a federal judge in northern Mississippi. Reeves had not appointed a replacement for Maxwell’s seat as of the July 27 appointment announcement.

That leaves eight sitting justices on a court designed for nine members. Wilson’s arrival restores the court to eight sitting members, but it does not resolve the second vacancy or determine when either seat will be permanently filled by voters.

Election timing depends on a new map

The special-election process remains unsettled because Mississippi’s Supreme Court district boundaries are the subject of federal voting-rights litigation.

U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock previously found that the Supreme Court electoral map, which was enacted in 1987, diluted Black voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The court barred Mississippi from using the existing map for future Supreme Court elections and ordered the state to redraw it. The Secretary of State’s Office is appealing, and the related proceedings remain active.

Aycock deferred deciding which seats would be subject to special elections until after a replacement map is adopted. The 2026 Legislature did not produce or approve a replacement Supreme Court map during its regular session.

As a result, Wilson’s appointment is complete, but no special-election date has been confirmed for her seat. The same broader uncertainty affects the remaining Maxwell vacancy because the applicable district boundaries and affected seats have not been finalized.

What voters should watch

Mississippi’s 2026 voter guide lists November 3, 2026, as the regular special-election date. The Secretary of State’s Office also warns that the calendar does not account for special elections affected by litigation or other special circumstances. The guide therefore does not establish that Wilson’s seat will appear on that date.

For voters, the unresolved questions are the date of any special election, the district boundaries that will apply, which seats will be placed on the ballot and when election officials will publish final guidance.

The next developments to watch are further federal-court and appellate action, any legislative effort to adopt a replacement map and additional instructions from the Secretary of State’s Office. Until those steps occur, Wilson is scheduled to begin serving August 1 as an interim justice while Mississippi’s election framework remains unsettled.

Sources

• Governor Reeves appointment announcement
• Mississippi Today: Gov. Reeves appoints DeSoto County Judge Celeste Wilson to state Supreme Court
• Associated Press: Judge orders special elections for Mississippi Supreme Court after Voting Rights Act violation
• Mississippi Secretary of State 2026 Voter Information Guide