The Mississippi Supreme Court has unanimously revived former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant’s defamation lawsuit against nonprofit news site Mississippi Today over its welfare scandal reporting, putting the case on track to go before a Madison County jury.
The seven justices who heard the case in February reversed Madison County Circuit Court’s April 2025 dismissal of the lawsuit, saying Bryant’s allegations of malice were enough to meet the standards for public officials to file defamation lawsuits against the press as defined in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
The Mississippi welfare scandal unfolded between 2016 and 2019, while Bryant was in office, with then-Mississippi Department of Human Services Director John Davis misusing at least $77 million in welfare funds, even directing some to wealthy sports celebrities. After a whistleblower raised the issue with Bryant, the governor turned the information over to the state auditor and fired Davis, who was among the first arrested when news of the scandal broke in early 2020.
“Governor Bryant did not steal or misspend $77 million in welfare funds. When Mississippi Today’s leadership said otherwise, they lied and gambled that they would not be exposed. That was a miscalculation,” Bryant’s attorney, Billy Quin, told the Mississippi Free Press in a Thursday statement. “The Court’s unanimous decision follows the clear letter of the law. This case will not be tried in Mississippi Today’s friendly echo chamber of like-minded liberals, nor will it be tried on the New York Times editorial page. It will be tried before a jury in Madison County.”
In a nearly identical statement to Mississippi Today, Quin added, “See you in court. This should be fun.”
Mississippi Today’s attorney, Lee R. Crain, expressed his dismay with the state Supreme Court’s decision in a statement to the Mississippi Free Press on Thursday.
“We are disappointed with the Supreme Court’s ruling today, which focused on procedures in the trial court and made no determination one way or the other about the validity of the former governor’s claims,” he said in a Thursday statement to the Mississippi Free Press. “The Mississippi Today Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage at the heart of this case is the very best of American journalism, and we look forward to vindicating that reporting once the case returns to the trial court.”
Bryant has accused the nonprofit publication and members of its staff of defaming him, including, he alleges, by saying he “steered” millions in welfare funds to sports celebrities and other illegal uses. Bryant also sued its former CEO for saying he “embezzled” welfare funds while speaking at a journalism forum in 2023. Neither state nor federal prosecutors have accused him of a crime in the welfare case.
Madison County Circuit Court Judge Bradley Mills dismissed Bryant’s lawsuit in April 2025 under Mississippi Rule of Procedure 12(b)(6), which allows a case to be dismissed for “failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.” He wrote only that he made the decision “[f]or the reasons set forth in the briefs submitted by Defendants.” Mississippi Today’s lawyers had argued that Bryant’s lawsuit did not meet the standard for a public official to bring a defamation claim.
Presiding Justice Josiah Coleman wrote in his decision on Thursday that the circuit court erroneously dismissed the case under Rule of Procedure 12(b)(6), which is only applicable if a plaintiff failed to state a claim.
“Because the Bryants’ complaint alleges ‘a recognized cause of action upon which, under some set of facts, he might prevail[,]’ the trial court erred by dismissing the complaint for failure to state a claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6).”
In Mississippi Today’s brief, the news outlet claimed that Bryant had failed to prove actual malice. But the former governor pushed back in his complaint, saying that reporter Anna Wolfe and Mississippi Today “refused” to apologize to Bryant about “libelous” claims she had made in her reporting of the welfare scandal.
“Bryant served Mississippi Today and Wolfe with statutory notice that Wolfe’s statements were libelous and demanded an apology, retractions, and corrections,” Bryant’s complaint says. “Mississippi Today and Wolfe refused to comply with Bryant’s demand and threatened Bryant with abuse of process and frivolous litigation claims. Their threat underscores the actual malice of Mississippi Today and its employee-defendants.”
Within the case are “factual inconsistencies” that must gain resolution via a jury trial, Coleman wrote, while noting that Mississippi Today “counters that the allegations of the complaint are contradicted by the Bryants’ own text messages and admissions that are either found in the complaint or attached hereto.”
The Mississippi Supreme Court did not decide whether or not Bryant would win the case, instead sending the case back to the Madison County Circuit Court to move forward with discovery, where the former governor could obtain additional records and reports to present to the trial court. That could set up a battle over Bryant’s efforts to obtain information that could identify Wolfe’s sources.
For more in-depth reporting on Bryant’s allegations and Mississippi Today’s arguments, read our Feb. 19, 2026, report on the Mississippi Supreme Court hearing.
