Missouri’s highest court has ordered Denny Hoskins, Secretary of State, to show for a contempt of court hearing on Thursday after conflicting orders on gerrymandered maps for November’s midterms.
Chaos has spread across four courts, but has come down to contradictory decisions between Brett Kavanaugh and a federal district judge in St. Louis.
Redrawn districting maps were used in Missouri’s primary last month, but were deemed invalid last week by the Missouri Supreme Court. The maps were set to split up a Kansas City district to flip a Democratic stronghold to Republican control, as Republican legislators rammed through the gerrymander order of Donald Trump despite protests.
A petition drive to force a statewide vote on the new maps ensued, and on Thursday Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled that the referendum on the new maps was legal and ordered it onto the November 3 ballot. Because the referendum petition was filed before the new map took effect, the court held, the 2025 districts never became law and the map used in 2022 and 2024 remains in effect for the November election. New 2025 maps were barred from being used unless the voters approved it in November.
Missouri officials then asked SCOTUS to intervene. Brett Kavanaugh denied the appeal on Tuesday night.
For one hot minute, Democrats thought the fight was over and Missouri would hold onto its Democratic House seat representing Kansas City.
But wait, there’s more!
Minutes later, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri (Trump-appointed) issued a temporary restraining order barring Hoskins from using any congressional map other than the 2025 version.
Hoskins issued an e-mail to local elections officials a copy of the federal district judge’s order, and stated that the federal order “takes precedence over the Missouri Supreme Court’s order.”
Missouri’s Supreme Court responded on Tuesday night.
Missouri’s Supreme Court is comprised of five judges appointed by Republican governors, and two judges appointed by Democrats. Those seven judges ruled unanimously against Secretary of State Hoskins last week.
New York Times, Missouri Independent