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Business News›News›International›World News›Missouri's congressional map back before US Supreme Court, sowing still more confusion

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Missouri's congressional map back before US Supreme Court, sowing still more confusion
Synopsis

Missouri's congressional redistricting dispute has reached the US Supreme Court. Conflicting court rulings have confused voters about upcoming election districts. Republicans backed a new map, while opponents sought a public vote on it. The state's top court initially sided with opponents, but federal courts issued contradictory orders. This legal uncertainty complicates the November elections and congressional control.

AP

Jefferson City: A battle over Missouri's congressional districts vaulted back to the US Supreme Court on Wednesday, two months before a pivotal November election that will determine control of Congress and affect the fate of President Donald Trump's agenda.



A series of conflicting court rulings has left a scar on Missouri – and left voters befuddled and unsure which US House districts they will be voting in and which candidates will appear on their ballots.



A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday sided with Republicans, declining to reverse a federal judge's order favouring a new map backed by Trump. But that decision was immediately appealed to the US Supreme Court, which just a day earlier had let stand a ruling by Missouri's top court against the Trump-backed districts.

Missouri acted quickly to draw districts to Trump's liking

Trump urged Republican-led states last year to redraw congressional districts to their advantage ahead of the midterm elections. Texas went first. Missouri was the second GOP state to act. State lawmakers passed new US House districts last September targeting a Kansas City-based seat held by Democratic Rep Emanuel Cleaver.

The new districts were intended to help Republicans win seven of the state's eight House seats in the midterm elections – a gain of one seat.

Opponents gathered petition signatures to force a vote

Redistricting opponents collected hundreds of thousands of petition signatures seeking to force a statewide vote on the new districts.



They submitted the signatures in December. But Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until August – on the same day as Missouri's primary – to reject the petition. Hoskins asserted that a referendum petition could not be used for congressional redistricting.



The delay by Hoskins was intentional. It allowed Missouri's new congressional districts to be used in the primaries.

Missouri's top court said new districts never became law

The Missouri Supreme Court said Hoskins was wrong. It ordered him to put the redistricting referendum on the November ballot, which he did.



But more than that, the court said the new districts never became law and instead were suspended retroactively to the December petition submission.



The court barred Hoskins from using the new map and said the old map – passed by Republican lawmakers in 2022 after the last census – must be used in the November election.



The US Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal.

Federal judge issued conflicting ruling

Mere minutes after the Supreme Court's action, federal District Judge Stephen Clark of Missouri issued a contradictory decision.



He temporarily barred Hoskins from using any map other than the new congressional districts in the November election. Clark said switching districts between the primary and general election could violate voters' federal rights.



Redistricting opponents asked the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Clark's order, but it declined to do so. So they quickly asked the US Supreme Court to intervene.



Redistricting opponents have also asked the Missouri Supreme Court to hold Hoskins in contempt for taking steps to use the new districts in November. The court set a contempt hearing for Thursday.



State attorneys for Hoskins, meanwhile, want the federal judge to block the contempt hearing. They contend Hoskins was merely following orders, arguing that a federal court order – based on the US Constitution – supersedes a state order based on the state constitution.

Changing districts after primary unusual

After a US Supreme Court ruling in April weakened the federal Voting Rights Act, Alabama lawmakers voted to change some of their congressional districts.



The high court allowed it to happen, even though voting had occurred in a May primary. Alabama instead held a new primary for the revised districts in August.



A similar scenario unfolded in Texas three decades ago. After Texas held its 1996 primaries, a federal court struck down several congressional districts. The state subsequently held an open primary for those districts in the November election, putting candidates from both parties on the same ballot. If no one got a majority, the top two advanced to a runoff.



In Missouri's case, no court has suggested redoing the primary. Candidates who won in August already have been certified for the November ballot according to the number of the district that they won.

No clear-cut example for Missouri to follow

"Here in Missouri, we've witnessed a series of unprecedented actions, one after another," Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St Louis, who specialises in election law, said.



Do voters have a right for congressional district boundaries to stay the same from the primary to the general election?



"That is a tough and complicated legal question, and there is no definitive ruling from the Supreme Court that one could point to for an answer," Crum said.

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Missouri congressional mapUS Supreme Court redistrictingMissouri Supreme Court rulingNovember election Missourivoting rights federal judgeredistricting opponents petition

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