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- The U.S. Supreme Court ordered Missouri to use its 2022 and 2024 maps.
- The order pauses a lower court ruling requiring a more Republican-friendly map.
- Conflicting state and federal rulings threw Missouri election maps into chaos.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday again rejected a push to revive the state’s new gerrymandered congressional map, striking a blow to Missouri Republicans.
Read more Hoskins, found in contempt of court, reverses himself on Missouri’s gerrymandered map
That leaves the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision suspending the maps and requiring the state to use the maps passed in 2022.
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a federal ruling that required the state to use the new map in the November election. The ruling bolstered the state Supreme Court decision that barred the state from using the map.
The decision follows a flurry of court filings and rulings this week that have cast Missouri’s election map into chaos, with conflicting rulings from the state’s Supreme Court and a federal court. The move has left election workers in uncharted waters.
People Not Politicians, a campaign seeking to strike down the map, filed an emergency application with the United States Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking Justice Brett Kavanaugh to block a federal ruling from the Eastern District of Missouri.
That ruling, from Judge Stephen R. Clark, came after Kavanaugh previously declined to issue a stay in the case on Tuesday. Clark ruled that the state could only use the gerrymandered map, or HB1.
The campaign against HB1 filed an emergency application for an appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals after Clark’s ruling, which was ultimately denied Wednesday after the panel of judges found it lacked jurisdiction over the matter or that the opponents of the map did not meet the threshold needed for a stay.
Attorneys for the campaign then filed their application for a stay with the country’s highest court, asking for
“The temporary restraining order (“TRO”) issued by the district court is in direct conflict with the order and injunction from the Missouri Supreme Court on the same question—which congressional map can and should go into effect for the November general elections,” the application from People Not Politicians said.
The U.S. Supreme Court is pausing the temporary restraining order pending an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The stay, which temporarily pauses a lawsuit or stops a judgment from being carried out, will be terminated by the Eighth Circuit.
Richard Von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, immediately celebrated the ruling.
“Clerks have ballots to print; they have to get moving on that,” Von Glahn said. “The only thing that is in effect is the SCOMO ruling that says ‘use the 2022 map.”
Missouri House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said on Thursday afternoon that he now views the map issue as settled.
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“I respect the court’s ruling. I respect our system of checks and balances,” Patterson said. “It is now time for us to print the ballots and vote.”
Inside the case
Two Republican candidates for office, U.S. Rep. Bob Onder and state Sen. Rick Brattin, brought the case, along with two voters who were placed in new districts between the primary and general elections. The defendant, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, has championed the gerrymandered congressional map.
Brattin and Onder argued that changing the map back to what voters used in 2022 and 2024 would unconstitutionally disenfranchise primary voters who cast ballots in entirely different districts.
Clark ruled in their favor minutes after Kavanaugh declined to intervene in a Missouri Supreme Court decision requiring the state to use the older congressional maps. In that case, Hoskins made similar claims about disenfranchising voters and violations of the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Kavanaugh referred the case to the whole Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and suspended the temporary restraining order. That leaves the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling to use the old maps in effect.
Hoskins summoned to Supreme Court
Kavanaugh made the ruling shortly before Hoskins was scheduled to appear before the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday to justify why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court. The state Supreme Court wanted Hoskins to address why he instructed local election officials to use the gerrymandered map in defiance of the court.
Hoskins told election officials that the temporary restraining order issued by the district court in St. Louis superseded the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision. At the hearing, the state Attorney General’s Office, which is representing Hoskins in the case, did not provide clear answers on how Hoskins planned to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Missouri Supreme Court judges repeatedly asked for a concession on whether the congressional map they pushed for never went into effect.
“The secretary acknowledges this court’s injunction is back in full force and effect and is evaluating next steps,” William Seidleck, a principal deputy solicitor general, told the court.
Chuck Hatfield, an attorney for the campaign seeking to block the new map, urged the court to tell local election authorities to use the state’s previous map. After the hearing, Hoskins appeared to concede defeat in his push to use the gerrymandered map.
“Following the United States Supreme Court’s stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri Supreme Court,” Hoskins said. “In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”
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The Star’s Matthew Kelly contributed reporting.