Mississippi judge corrects court order after AI drafting concerns

In short: A Mississippi federal judge replaced a court order after it included serious mistakes that made some observers suspect it may have been written with help from AI.

What happened

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Mississippi issued a temporary restraining order on July 20 in a federal civil case challenging a state law that limits diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in public schools and universities. A temporary restraining order, or TRO, is an emergency, short-term court order meant to pause something while the case continues.

The TRO drew attention because it contained multiple errors. Reporting said the order listed plaintiffs who were not actually part of the lawsuit, misquoted a state law, and cited court cases that appear not to exist.

Because these mistakes resemble problems seen when AI tools generate legal text (like a spellchecker that confidently makes up facts), lawyers and observers questioned whether AI was used to draft the order. After attorneys raised concerns, Judge Wingate issued a corrected order the next day and acknowledged the earlier mistakes.

Separately, news coverage has pointed to other federal cases where judges sanctioned lawyers for AI-related filing errors, including a case in Mobile, Alabama where a lawyer was fined after submitting a filing with non-existent case citations. But public reporting does not show Judge Wingate imposing fines, canceling a civil trial, or removing all four lawyers from this Mississippi case as punishment for AI use.

Why it matters

Courts rely on written orders and filings being accurate, since lawyers and the public treat them like official instructions. These incidents are also pushing judges to warn lawyers to double-check anything produced with AI, especially quotes and citations.

Source: NYTimes