<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Missouri Supreme Court found Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt on Thursday for instructing officials to use a new congressional map for the November election, but noted that Hoskins had "purged" himself of the contempt by reversing his decision later in the day.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The contempt finding arose from a legal dispute regarding whether state officials should utilize a congressional map passed in 2025, which would likely give Republicans a 7-1 advantage over Democrats, or the congressional map passed in 2022, which has provided the GOP with a 6-2 advantage in previous elections. The Missouri Supreme Court determined last week that the 2025 map would face a referendum in November, and that the 2022 map would therefore be used for the upcoming election, despite the 2025 map being used for the August primary election. However, a federal district court ordered Missouri officials to use the 2025 map on Tuesday, leading to conflicting rulings between state and federal courts.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Following the federal district court ruling, Hoskins stated he would proceed with the 2025 map, prompting the state Supreme Court to schedule a contempt hearing for Thursday. A federal appeals court declined to halt the district court order, but on Thursday morning, just before the contempt hearing, the U.S. Supreme Court halted the district court ruling that had mandated the use of the 2025 map. After a hearing before the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday morning, state officials agreed to use the 2022 map for the November election.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">During an afternoon hearing, Chief Justice W. Brent Powell announced the state high court’s finding that Hoskins was in contempt, but noted that he had corrected his actions by ordering officials to use the 2022 map in compliance with the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling, thus purging himself of the contempt.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“The court finds that the secretary has since corrected his contemptuous conduct by informing this court of his notifications to the local election authorities that the governing order in effect from this court and directing all local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional district map, the secretary therefore has purged himself of said contempt,” Powell stated.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hoskins stated ahead of the hearing that the only “governing court order in effect is from the Missouri Supreme Court” after the U.S. Supreme Court halted the federal district court’s order, adding that his office would be “directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">While proceedings continue in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit regarding the federal lawsuit, it appears likely that the 2022 map will be used in November, with deadlines for mail ballots to be shipped out to service members set for next week.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The outcome of the legal proceedings in Missouri suggests that Republicans are unlikely to gain an additional seat in the state, potentially impacting the GOP’s chances of maintaining their narrow majority in the House of Representatives.</p>