Judge's release of order with AI errors is 'pretty serious matter,' 5th Circuit says
U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi in August 2022. (Photo by Rogelio V. Solis/The Associated Press)
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans is weighing whether a challenge to a Mississippi law that prohibits programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion should be reassigned after the district court judge issued an error-riddled ruling in the case.
In July 2025, U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate of the Southern District of Mississippi issued a temporary restraining order blocking the law that referenced allegations and parties not in the lawsuit, nonexistent declarations by four people, and language not found in the state law being challenged.
Wingate withdrew the order after the Mississippi attorney general’s office raised concerns and replaced it with a corrected version. He later said a law clerk used a generative artificial intelligence tool known as Perplexity to synthesize information on the docket. He also said the order was an early draft that had not gone through the standard review process, which involves several layers of review.
In considering the matter Monday, 5th Circuit Judge Jerry Smith questioned why an erroneous citation still appeared in the amended order filed by Wingate, according to a story by Law.com.
“Don’t you think that’s a pretty serious matter?” Smith reportedly said. “If after all that had happened with getting rid of the initial order, that there still would be an AI hallucination in what was finally issued?”
Robert McDuff of the Mississippi Center for Justice, an attorney who represents student groups challenging the Mississippi law, argued that a preliminary injunction that was ultimately issued in the case should stay in place because Wingate made the decision and not an AI tool, Law.com reports.
Deputy Mississippi Solicitor General Anthony M. Shults countered that the 5th Circuit should vacate the order and send the case to a different district court judge, Law.com also reports.
“In the [preliminary injunction order], the court didn’t disclaim the TRO and actually embraced it and relied on the legal reasoning in the flawed TRO, which we think is very concerning,” Shults reportedly said.
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