NPRMissouri
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Supreme Court rejects GOP-backed Missouri map, preserving key seat for Democrats
Supreme Court rejects GOP-backed Missouri map, preserving key seat for Democrats
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Republican attempt at redistricting congressional seats in Missouri - possibly giving Democrats a boost in their effort to win the House in the midterm elections.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
When President Trump called for redistricting around the country last year, Republicans in Missouri were among the first to respond. And late yesterday, the Republican plan for Missouri was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. It's likely the last big redistricting ruling. With early voting already underway in midterm elections, it could be a small boost for Democrats in their effort to retake control of Congress. Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio joins us now. Jason, thanks so much for being with us.
JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Thank you so much for having me.
SIMON: And Missouri Republicans had targeted one particular congressional seat currently held by a Democrat. Tell us about the district and what'll happen now.
ROSENBAUM: So Republicans targeted Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based district. They split the heavily Democratic city into three largely rural districts, imperiling Cleaver's ability to win another term. The Supreme Court blocked that because citizens had gathered petitions to make the redistricting subject to voter approval. And that won't be decided until November 3, so the map can't be used in this election. Cleaver told me he was grateful that Missourians went through the referendum process.
EMANUEL CLEAVER: The joy, I think, now is generated by the fact that the people won this battle.
ROSENBAUM: And now Cleaver is the heavy favorite to win reelection in November.
SIMON: And, Jason, where does this leave redistricting nationally?
ROSENBAUM: Well, remember, Trump started this rare mid-decade redistricting race. Usually, it's done at the start of the decade. And with Texas and Florida and other states doing it, Republicans ended up with about nine more seats tilted their way across the country than Democrats. Without Missouri, it's down to eight seats. But of course, it'll still come down to how people actually vote in all those districts and hundreds more across the U.S. Republicans barely have a majority in the House. Every seat could be important.
SIMON: And as I understand it, some voters will now be in different districts for the November election than they were for the primaries. How did that happen?
ROSENBAUM: The Republican secretary of state, Denny Hoskins, instructed that the GOP map must be used in the primary. He knew there was a petition initiative giving voters a say over whether to use it, but he decided very late in the process that citizens' initiatives do not apply to redistricting. So that's the map that was used in the primary, but the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that was incorrect and said that map was never in effect.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene on that decision twice in the last month, and that led election officials to plan on the old map used in 2022 and 2024 for the November elections. But Republicans challenged that in federal court, which ruled in their favor. And that's how it got to the U.S. Supreme Court, though very late in the process.
SIMON: And now the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on this conflict between the other courts. So is the election in Missouri on track?
ROSENBAUM: Yes. The U.S. Supreme Court said it's too late to go back to the Republican-drawn map. They said it would cause electoral chaos and the state should stick with the map used in 2024, even though it's different from the primary map. Local officials like Brianna Lennon, county clerk in Boone County - and that's home to Columbia, Missouri - are relieved. She said they'd already sent out thousands of absentee ballots to voters.
BRIANNA LENNON: I did not realize until that opinion came down how much stress had been in my body that is now relieved. The fact that we can now confidently tell absentee voters that their vote will count - they can be confident that their vote will count and that the ballots are not going to change - is a huge relief.
ROSENBAUM: So election officials and Missouri voters have some finality going into November.
SIMON: Jason Rosenbaum with St. Louis Public Radio. Thanks so much.
ROSENBAUM: Thank you.
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Open article →GDELTKansas
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Supreme Court on Friday turned away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by President Donald Trump, potentially putting an end to a long-running legal dispute as absentee voting is underway in the midterm elections.
The justices halted a federal appeals court ruling that would have revived the Republican-friendly map for the November elections, which will determine control of Congress.
The Supreme Court instead let stand a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled earlier this month that a citizen petition prevents the new map from being used unless first approved by voters in a November referendum. The decision means Missouri residents will vote under the same congressional districts used in the 2024 and 2022 elections.
Republicans had hoped the new House map — which already was used in the August primaries — could help them win an additional seat as part of a nationwide redistricting battle pushed by Trump to gain an edge in the midterms.
A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that switching districts between the primary and general elections would violate the U.S. Constitution. The panel directed a district judge to bar Missouri from using anything other than the new map but delayed the order's effect until next Monday to allow time for an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The legal wrangling has caused confusion for more than a million potential Missouri voters — nearly 1 in 4 statewide — who were shifted from one district to another, resulting in different candidates on their ballots. Absentee voting began Tuesday under the 2022 congressional districts, though some local election officials had urged voters to wait because of the legal uncertainty.
Republican redistricting focused on Kansas City
Republicans currently hold six of Missouri's eight House districts. At the urging of Trump and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, Missouri lawmakers last September passed revised districts that were intended to help them win seven seats in the midterms.
The redistricting significantly reshaped a Kansas City-based district held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. It shed parts of Kansas City to neighboring districts with Republican incumbents and stretched the remainder of Cleaver's 5th Congressional District far eastward into rural Republican areas.
The result was about 59% of potential voters were new to the district, according to an Associated Press estimate. The ripple effects also shifted some voters in most of Missouri's other congressional districts.
Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin won a six-way Republican primary under the revised districts. They remain the candidates for the general election, even though the district boundaries have reverted to their prior lines.
Brattin was a plaintiff, along with Republican Rep. Bob Onder and two other voters, in a federal lawsuit that led to the 8th Circuit's ruling and the last two appeals to the Supreme Court.
Missouri's redistricting prompted a big legal fight
At least 16 lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts related to Missouri's congressional redistricting. The battle has been the longest and most complex among roughly a dozen states that sought to change their U.S. House districts over the past year.
Missouri's new map survived most of the lawsuits, including ones contending that mid-decade redistricting violated the state constitution and that the new districts ran afoul of requirements to be compact. In one case, the Missouri Supreme Court allowed the new districts to be used while election officials worked to verify petition signatures seeking to put the map to a statewide vote.
Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until the legal deadline on Aug. 4 — the day the new districts were used in the primaries — to reject the petition. He asserted referendum petitions aren't allowed for congressional redistricting.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the referendum petition was valid. It ordered Hoskins not to use the new map and to instead use the districts adopted in 2022, after the last census. The U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand on Sept. 8. But minutes later, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a conflicting order in favor of the new map.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 10 blocked Clark's order from taking effect. That day, the Missouri Supreme Court held Hoskins temporarily in contempt for telling local election authorities to use the new map after Clark's order.
But that wasn't the end of the matter. The 8th Circuit, hearing an appeal of Clark's blocked order, ruled in favor of the Trump-backed map Monday. That's what led to the latest decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Reactions to SCOTUS ruling Friday
Following Friday's ruling, Missouri organizations and officials reacted to the decision.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., spoke with KSHB 41 News on Friday after Friday's announcement.
"Anyone who hasn't been baffled by this simply doesn't understand bafflement," Cleaver said.
Cleaver shared that he hopes the ruling will help voters who have been dealing with confusion on what district they will vote in come November.
"We’re going to make sure that the voters understand that it's the same map they voted on for the last few years. In some ways, the confusion will be lessened because the ballots have already been printed, and in at least two cases, people have already voted," Cleaver said. "Good news that we don’t have to go back and try to explain that their vote is not going to count. The message is needed, but it’s a lot simpler than it would have been had they ruled in the other direction."
State Sen. Rick Brattin, who is running against incumbent Cleaver in the Nov. 3 general election, responded to Friday's ruling, calling it a "travesty for Missouri voters."
“I am grateful to the Eighth Circuit for squarely addressing the merits of this case and stating plainly what common sense and the Constitution require: voters should not choose their nominees under one congressional map and then be forced into entirely different districts for the general election.
"Today’s Supreme Court decision is a travesty for Missouri voters and for the integrity of our elections. Missouri will now conduct a congressional primary under one map and a general election under another. Voters who lawfully participated in the August primary will be moved into districts where they had no voice in choosing the nominees who will appear on their ballot in November. This is the most unprecedented form of voter disenfranchisement in American history, and Missouri voters deserve far better.
"The responsibility for this chaos rests first and foremost with the Missouri Supreme Court. With the stroke of a pen, it overturned a congressional map passed by the people’s elected legislature and signed by the Governor after that map had already been used to conduct the primary election. The Eighth Circuit recognized the serious constitutional problem that decision created. Missouri voters are now being forced to live with the consequences.
"This is part of a dangerous pattern of courts asserting power that belongs to the people and their elected representatives. Judges are not kings, and courts are not legislatures. Our system of government depends upon each branch respecting the constitutional authority of the others. The Missouri Supreme Court abandoned that principle in this case, usurped the authority of Missouri’s duly elected legislative and executive branches, and left Missouri voters paying the price.”
People Not Politicians, the group that spearheaded efforts to put the 2025 map to a statewide vote in November, shared a statement in support of the ruling to use the 2022 maps.
"We are done with corrupt politicians trying to force their map into effect outside the process outlined in the Missouri constitution," Executive Director Richard von Glahn said
Open article →NPRMissouri
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Supreme Court blocks Trump-backed Missouri congressional map
In a case watched across the country and as voting begins in the midterm elections, the Supreme Court blocked a congressional map in Missouri that was aimed at netting Republicans another seat in the U.S. House.
This is the third time the high court has blocked the redistricting plan that could have helped oust Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by increasing the number of Republican voters in his district.
The court warned that changing maps now would cause "electoral chaos." The decision requires the state use the same districts provided to voters in 2022 and 2024. That's even though a different map was used in the primaries there last month.
It comes after weeks of conflicting rulings in state courts and federal courts. Elections officials in Missouri already started mailing some absentee ballots last week using the old districts and some argued it would be too late to change them.
Missouri lawmakers passed the new map last year at the behest of President Trump. It was part of his nationwide strategy to draw more GOP-leaning seats to prevent Republicans from losing the House.
A citizen petition makes the redistricting subject to voter approval
Usually, states redistrict at the start of each decade. The redistricting battle set off by Trump ended with the GOP besting the Democrats by tilting about nine or 10 more districts, including Missouri's 5th District, their way. Republicans currently only hold a few seats advantage in the House.
But opponents of the new Missouri map successfully gathered citizen signatures to put it to a vote on the November ballot.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the ballot question meant the 2025 GOP-backed map never went into effect and was never law — even though it had been used in the Aug. 4 primaries. The state's high court blamed Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for proceeding with the GOP map in the primaries even though it hadn't been approved by voters.
The U.S. Supreme Court in its ruling Friday backed that up, noting that the state court had said in May — before the primary — that the GOP map would require voter approval before it could be used.
The U.S. Supreme Court had declined on Sept. 10 to intervene in the state court's ruling but allowed the case to continue.
Simultaneously, Republicans sued in federal court and won backing for the GOP map from a federal judge and then, last week, a federal appeals court. That sent the case back to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against Republican lawmakers Friday.
In general, Republicans argued that their map should be used because more than a million Missourians cast votes in the primary using the map. Opponents of redistricting argued voters hadn't approved the map and blamed Republican officials for dragging out the process and of trying to force through the new map.
Jason Rosenbaum covers politics for St. Louis Public Radio.
Open article →NBCWashington
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WASHINGTON — For the third time, the Supreme Court on Friday shut down efforts by Missouri Republicans to use a new congressional map in the midterm elections that are already underway.
The court blocked an appeals court ruling that sought to revive the 2025 map despite two previous Supreme Court decisions and a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court that ruled against Republicans on the same issue. There were no dissents.
“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” the ruling said.
In doing so, the justices granted an emergency application filed by People Not Politicians, the group challenging the new map.
“We are done with corrupt politicians trying to force their map into effect outside the process outlined in the Missouri constitution,” Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, said in a statement. “We have said from the beginning, people, not politicians will be the final deciders on this DC power grab.”
The election will proceed using a 2022 map that includes six seats held by Republicans and two held by Democrats. The state has already started sending out ballots to military and overseas voters, and some absentee voting began Tuesday.
The high court cited the fact that Missouri has already begun its voting processes.
“This Court has repeatedly cautioned that ‘lower federal courts should not ‘alter the election rules’’ of a state ‘on the eve of an election,’” the ruling said. “The election is not merely upcoming; it has already started.”
The proposed 2025 map would have eliminated one of the Democratic seats, held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
The Missouri map was part of a nationwide push by Republicans at the urging of President Donald Trump to draw new congressional districts that would favor their candidates. Democrats in other states, including California, responded by drawing new maps, too.
Cleaver told NBC News in a brief phone call Friday that he was “very happy” with the ruling and relieved the issue is settled for November.
“It lasted much too long, but it’s over now,” Cleaver said. “The manufactured chaos, you know, has at long last ended, been brought to a final state, and we can move on.”
Cleaver said his campaign will now work to get the word out to voters ahead of the midterm elections in order to address their confusion after the status of their congressional districts has bounced between courts this year.
The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that the Republican-drawn Missouri map could be used, but it never went into effect. The Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday overturns that decision.
The appeals court had ruled the state had to use the 2025 map in part because the primary election had already taken place using it. But in a conflicting ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court said the 2022 map had to be used, while making it clear that Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, was to blame for the confusion.
The state high court ultimately held Hoskins in contempt for his actions.
In its ruling on Friday, the Supreme Court wrote that Hoskins “was well aware that conducting the August primary election with the 2025 map carried significant risks,” citing a May opinion from the state high court that made clear the new map would not go into effect ahead of the 2026 elections.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, said in a post on X on Friday that it was “disappointing” that the Supreme Court’s ruling meant the general election will use a different map than the one used in the primary elections.
“Voters deserved consistency and certainty, and not for the rules to be changed between elections,” Kehoe wrote. “Nevertheless, Missouri will follow the Court’s order.”
The court battle started after opponents of the new map gained enough signatures to trigger a state referendum on whether it should be used. Under state law, whenever a state law is subject to a referendum, it is suspended until after the vote takes place.
But Hoskins delayed a decision on whether the referendum push was legitimate until the eve of the primary. He rejected the proposal and ordered the new map to be used.
The Missouri Supreme Court then quickly ruled that there were no grounds to reject the referendum proposal and that, with the issue being put to voters in November, the map should be put on hold and the 2022 districts used instead.
The litigation seemed to be over until a new lawsuit was filed on Sept. 4 by Rick Brattin, the Republican nominee in the district held by Cleaver, as well as Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo., and two voters.
That moved the fight into federal court, where Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark ruled that the new map should be used. That decision ultimately led to the appeals court ruling and Supreme Court intervention.
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