Missouri Supreme Court Blocks Trump-Backed Congressional Map, Orders Statewide Vote

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court has unanimously blocked new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump from being used in the November election and ordered a statewide vote on whether to uphold or reject the new map. The decision on Thursday marks a setback for Republicans in a national redistricting battle. Republicans had hoped Missouri’s new congressional boundaries could help them win an additional seat and maintain their slim House majority in the midterms. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, stated she would immediately appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that the decision “has thrust our state into a full-fledged constitutional crisis.” Missouri’s new districts were used in the August primaries, but the state Supreme Court ruled they cannot be used in the November general election or ever again unless voters first approve the new districts passed by the Republican-led Legislature. The court indicated that the new districts were effectively placed on hold in December when opponents submitted over 300,000 petition signatures seeking to put the map to a vote of the people. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the petition on primary election day in August, asserting that the referendum process cannot be used for congressional redistricting. A lower court agreed, but the Supreme Court overturned Hoskins’ decision. The court stated, “The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise.” The legislation containing the new districts “did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.” Consequently, the congressional map adopted after the 2020 census “remains in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election.” Hanaway, whose office represented Hoskins, called the ruling an unprecedented violation of federal law. Republican Governor Mike Kehoe, who proposed the new congressional map to lawmakers, echoed this sentiment. “Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election,” Hanaway stated. The Missouri Constitution does not specifically state that a referendum petition can be used for a congressional redistricting law passed by the Legislature. However, the Supreme Court ruled that a constitutional provision allowing a referendum on “any act” of the Legislature encompasses congressional redistricting. It rejected claims from Hanaway’s office that federal law prohibits referendum petitions on congressional redistricting. Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, which sponsored the referendum petition, stated, “This is what democracy looks like. The people of Missouri demanded a voice, and the court just confirmed what we’ve been saying all along. People, not politicians, will have the final say.” Hoskins, acknowledging the loss, vowed to continue “the war to preserve our constitutional republic.” The ruling, which capped a year of political maneuvering and legal wrangling, was one of two to go against Republican officials on Thursday. The Supreme Court also ruled that Hoskins had wrongly rejected a petition for a ballot proposal making it difficult for politicians to change measures enacted by voters through citizen initiatives. The court ordered that measure to be placed on the November ballot. Missouri currently has six Republicans and two Democrats in the U.S. House. After Trump urged Republicans to redraw congressional districts to their advantage, Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session last year to dramatically reconfigure the 5th Congressional District, held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. Cleaver, who was unopposed in the August primary, has carried the Kansas City-based district with at least 60% of the vote in each of the past two elections. Republican state Senator Rick Brattin won an August primary in the reshaped 5th Congressional District, which had been extended eastward to include rural Republican areas. About 59% of the district’s voters were new under the revised map, according to an Associated Press estimate. Cleaver had not posted campaign signs in many of the new rural areas, explaining that he was waiting for the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision. However, he vowed to continue his reelection campaign regardless of the outcome. “Despite the cynical and deeply shameful attempt to silence many of our neighbors, the people fought back and won,” Cleaver stated in a social media post on Thursday. Brattin, a Marine veteran and founding member of the conservative Missouri Freedom Caucus in the state Legislature, claimed the decision disenfranchises thousands of primary voters who will now be shifted to different districts with candidates they did not choose. He stated that the court “handed Democrats a decision they desperately needed in their effort to help national Democrats retake the U.S. House of Representatives.” Congressional districts are typically redrawn at the start of each decade based on new census data. However, Trump’s quest for a midterm election advantage triggered an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle that spread to more than a dozen states and resulted in a dozen lawsuits in Missouri alone. The Missouri Supreme Court ruling was one of only a few nationally to go against Republicans’ redistricting plans. Prior to its latest ruling, Missouri’s top court had already rejected claims that the special session was illegal, that mid-decade redistricting isn’t allowed, and that the new districts aren’t compact enough. After the Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday, a couple hundred people chanted.