A federal court order meant to protect Mississippi students, teachers, and parents was drafted with help from an AI tool called Perplexity, and it showed: the filed version named people who weren't part of the case, cited material that didn't exist in the court record, and got Mississippi law wrong. That flawed draft was corrected days later, but the case it came from is still being fought over in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

At the center of this fight is Jackson Federation of Teachers v. Fitch, brought by educators, parents, students, and advocacy groups who say Mississippi House Bill 1193 unlawfully restricts protected speech and instruction about race and sex in public schools and universities. U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate blocked parts of the law while the case moves forward. Now Mississippi wants that block overturned and the case moved to a different judge, pointing to the AI mistakes as reason to doubt the ruling.

Circuit Judges Jerry Smith, Catharina Haynes, and Kurt Engelhardt heard arguments on both sides in late August, but the Fifth Circuit hasn't ruled yet. Whatever happens with the AI controversy, the students and teachers who brought this case deserve a decision based on accurate facts and real legal analysis, not one clouded by unchecked technology or delayed by procedural fights that have nothing to do with their First Amendment claims.

Courts are already grappling with how AI tools get used in legal work. That shouldn't come at the cost of the people whose rights are actually on the line in this case.

Sign the petition to demand the Fifth Circuit resolve this case fairly and quickly, on the real facts, for the students and teachers of Mississippi.