Ellington

From the looks of it, it'll be federal judges, and not the Mississippi Legislature, who will redraw the state's map of congressional districts.

Yesterday, during a hearing in Jackson, a three-judge panel said it would go ahead with devising its own map if state lawmakers fail to act by early December.

"To be practical about it, I don't see any realistic hope that the Legislature will pass a plan… After Dec. 4, we're going to move forward," U.S. Appeals Court Judge E. Grady Jolly said, according to an Associated Press report.

Judges then gave until December 12 to submit formal objections to their redistricting plan.

States are required to revisit its electoral boundaries on a decennial basis to reflect population shifts and distribute voters evenly.

Click here to see how Mississippi's congressional districts look now.