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Dueling Court Rulings Leave Missouri’s Congressional Races in Chaos
Confirmed
In Short: In a series of conflicting rulings, Missouri’s congressional map for the November elections remains in flux.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order on Thursday to leave in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling from last week, which stated that the new map could not be used while a ballot initiative that could lead to voters rejecting the newly drawn district lines moves forward. However, just hours later, a federal judge in Missouri ruled in favor of two GOP congressional candidates, arguing that the new map must be used in November to avoid federal constitutional violations.
The Missouri Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, found that the referendum petition was "legal, sufficient, and timely," and that any confusion caused by its ruling was due to the delay in deciding whether the referendum could proceed. The court also noted that the state court ruling did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s elections clause, which delegates significant powers to state legislatures in overseeing elections.
The federal case, on the other hand, raised questions under the U.S. Constitution and argued that the new map must be used to avoid federal constitutional violations. The Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling, if it remains in effect, would mean that the 2022 congressional districts, which include six Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats, would be used for the general election. This decision comes as the map was drawn to improve Republicans' chances of winning seven of Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats.
The Missouri fight is part of a broader wave of mid-decade redistricting that began after the White House urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps to help the party maintain or expand its House majority. The map targeted the 5th Congressional District, represented by Cleaver since 2005, by stretching the district eastward to include more Republican-leaning areas. Cleaver is one of only two Black congressional representatives from Missouri.
Efforts in other states, such as Colorado, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Maryland, were blocked by courts, while states like South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Maine faced roadblocks within their state legislatures. The map was drawn to improve Republicans' chances of winning seven of Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats, and the referendum campaign was led by People Not Politicians, a Missouri voting rights group, which gathered more than 300,000 signatures seeking to put the new congressional map before voters.
What's confirmed
- The referendum petition was “legal, sufficient and timely,” the court found.
What's still developing
- The Missouri Supreme Court found that Hoskins should not have rejected the plan, unanimously concluding there is nothing in state law that says redistricting plans are exempt from the referendum process.
- Hoskins’ lawyers told the justices that the state court ruling had created chaos because the new map was used in this year’s primary election.
- Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri.
- Supreme Court scrutiny with time running out for the map to be finalized.
- “This shouldn’t have needed to go to court at all,” he said.
- “Missouri is fortunate to have a model system for keeping politics out of our judiciary. The Supreme Court of Missouri has five justices appointed by a Republican governor and two by a Democrat. A unanimous decision makes it clear to all that this wasn’t about politics, it was about the law,” he said.
- It began with Texas changing five congressional districts, most drastically, 20-year U.S. Rep. Al Green’s heavily Black and Latino 9th District.
- The GOP had aimed to use Missouri’s new congressional map to help them win an additional seat and hold onto its slim House majority.