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The 2012 legislative session begins Jan. 3 — only 10 days before the congressional candidates' qualifying deadline for the March 13 primaries.
The four U.S. House districts must be adjusted to reflect population changes revealed by the 2010 Census.
The majority-black 2nd District must pick up residents, and the other three must lose some.
The state Republican Party filed papers in September to reopen a decade-old congressional reapportionment case in federal court. On Oct. 19, Republican Gov. Haley Barbour filed papers supporting the party.
Beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Jackson, federal judges will hear arguments about whether they should update the congressional map.