Conflicting court rulings leave Missouri’s congressional map in limbo
www.nbcnews.com
The Supreme Court rejected Missouri Republicans’ attempt to put a redrawn map in place for the midterms, while a federal judge in a different case ruled that it must be used.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a last-ditch effort by Missouri Republicans to use a newly drawn congressional map, which was designed to maximize their political power, for this year’s midterm elections.

In a brief order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling last week that said the map could not be used while a ballot initiative that could lead to the redrawn map’s being tossed out by voters moves forward. Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri.

The 2025 Republican redistricting plan, part of a wave prompted by President Donald Trump, was designed to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

But the Supreme Court’s decision means the 2022 map, with six Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats, will remain in place.

The legal clash erupted after the 2025 redistricting plan was enacted.

A group called People Not Politicians Missouri, led by Richard von Glahn, gathered signatures in support of a state referendum that would veto the Legislature’s map and put it on hold for the 2026 election.

But Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, refused to put the measure on the ballot, arguing that redistricting plans are not subject to being overturned by voters.

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.

The referendum petition was “legal, sufficient and timely,” the court found.

  • mkwt@lemmy.world
    19·
    2 days ago

    There’re a bunch of legal shenanigans that happened this afternoon on this topic. I’ll try to summarize.

    1. Kavanaugh really did rule in favour of the democrat-leaning map. All by himself.
    2. The emergency application that Kavanaugh denied came to the supreme court on appeal to from the supreme court of Missouri.
    3. In a separate lawsuit in federal court, a federal district judge ruled in favour of the Republican map (forcing MO to change its behaviour with a court order). The main reasoning for this decision is the Purcell Principle. A rule that federal courts can’t meddle with election maps right before an election.
    4. #3 happened just minutes after the Kavanaugh decision was posted.
    5. Despite that, the #3 decision does not disobey the Kavanaugh decision because it was decided on a different rationale. Also the Kavanaugh decision didn’t come with an opinion.
    6. The #3 decision was immediately appealed to both the 8th circuit and to Justice Kavanaugh on the supreme court.
    7. Kavanaugh asked for a response on this new appeal by next Tuesday.
    8. Kavanaugh is handling all these emergency appeals because he is assigned to handle the circuit that includes Missouri.

    Bottom line: Despite the Kavanaugh ruling, the Republican-leaning map is still the current map right now.

    Why is this federal district judge probably wrong? In the Alabama and Texas cases, the Supreme Court pretty well established that the Purcell Principle restrains the federal court system, but not state legislatures or state governments. Other court precedent says that the supreme court of Missouri is the ultimate decider of the meaning of the Missouri constitution and the Missouri laws. Federal courts are supposed to defer to state supreme courts if they need to know what a state law means. Here we have a federal judge telling Missouri that their supreme court is wrong on the laws of Missouri, and he’s incorrectly applying Purcell to the state supreme court.