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Supreme Court rejects a Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for the third time · Best of: Features

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  Supreme Court rejects a Trump backed Missouri congressional map for the third
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  time. Written by David a Lieb This article is being read by
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  an automated voice generated by Everlett. Jefferson City, Missouri, the AP.
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  The Supreme Court on Friday turned away an attempt to use a
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  new Missouri congressional map backed by President Donald Trump, putting an end
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  to a long running legal dispute as absentee voting is underway in
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  the midterm elections. The justices halted a Federal Appeals Court ruling that
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  would have revived the Republican friendly map for the November elections, which
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  will determine control of Congress. There were no noted dissents. The Supreme
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  Court instead let stand a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court, which
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  ruled earlier this month that a citizen petition prevents the new map
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  from being used unless first approved by voters in a November referendum.
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  The decision means Missouri residents will vote under the same congressional districts
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  use in the twenty twenty four and twenty twenty two elections. At
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  this late date, ordering reversion to the twenty twenty five map in
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  the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos, the
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  High Court wrote in an unsigned opinion. The District Court and Court
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  of Appeals should not enjoin, or otherwise prohibit the use of the
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  twenty twenty two map in the twenty twenty six Congressional election in
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  Missouri. Republicans had hoped the new house map, which already was used
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  in the August primaries, could help them win an additional seat as
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  part of a nationwide redistricting battle pushed by Trump to gain an
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  edge in the midterms. The new map had targeted a district held
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  by longtime Democratic Representative Emmanuel Cleaver. I think my reelection prospects shot
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  up significantly, a jubilant cleaver said after the Supreme court's ruling. A
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  panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled Monday
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  that switching districts between the primary and general elections would violate the
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  U.S. Constitution. The panel directed a district judge to bar Missouri from
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  using anything another, than the new map, but delayed the order's effect
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  until next Monday to allow time for an appeal to the
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  Supreme Court Republican Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins described the High
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  Court's decision as a disappointing blow to representative democracy, but added, I
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  appreciate the final clarity. The legal wrangling has caused confusion for more
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  than a million potential Missouri voters, nearly one in four statewide, who
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  were shifted from one district to another, resulting in different candidates on
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  their ballots. Absentee voting began Tuesday under the twenty twenty two congressional
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  districts. Thousands of ballots already had been mailed, and some already have
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  been cast. A decision from the Supreme Court is a big sigh
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  of relief, said Kansas City Election Director Sean Kiefer. He added, We
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  just want it over, so we can do our job properly. Republican
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  redistricting focused on Kansas City. Republicans currently hold six of Missouri's eight
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  House districts.
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  At the urging of Trump and Republican Governor Mike Kehoe, Missouri lawmakers
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  last September passed revised districts. That were intended to help the win
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  even seats in the midterms. The redistricting significantly reshaped a Kansas City
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  based district held by Cleaver. It shed parts of Kansas City to
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  neighboring districts with Republican incumbents, and stretched the remainder of Cleaver's fifth
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  Congressional District far eastward into rural Republican areas. The result was about
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  fifty nine percent of potential voters were new to the district, according
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  to an Associated Press estimate. The ripple effects also shifted some voters
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  in most of Missouri's other congressional districts. Cleaver was unopposed in the
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  Democratic primary. Republican State Senator Rick Bratton won a six way Republican
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  primary under the revised districts. They remain the candidates for the general
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  election, even though the district boundaries have reverted to their prior lines.
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  Cleaver said the court ruling affirms the people's right to use to
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  referendum petitions against state legislative actions they don't like. We just received
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  a healthy dose of encouragement that the voice of people in the
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  United States still matters, he said. Bratton was a plaintiff, along with
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  Republican Representative Bob Onder and two other voters, in a federal lawsuit
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  that led to the Eighth Circuit's ruling and the last two appeals
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  to the Supreme Court. Braddon denounced Friday's decision as a travesty, calling
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  the switching of districts after the primary, the most unprecedented form of
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  vote.
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  Disenfranchisement in American history. Missouri's redistricting prompted a big legal fight.
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  At least sixteen lawsuits have been filed in State and Federal Courts
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  related to Missouri's congressional redistricting.
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  The battle has been the longest and most complex among roughly a
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  dozen states that sought to change their US House districts over the
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  past year. Missouri's new map survived most of The lawsuits, including ones
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  contending that mid decade redistricting violated the state constitution and that the
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  new districts ran afoul of requirements to be compact. In one case,
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  the Missouri Supreme Court allowed the new districts to be used while
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  election officials worked to verify petition signatures seeking to put the map
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  to a statewide vote. Hoskins waited until the legal deadline on august
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  fourth, the day the new districts were used in the primaries, to
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  reject the petition. He asserted referendum petitions aren't allowed for congressional redistricting.
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  The Missouri Supreme Court ruled September 3rd that the referendum petition was
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  valid. It ordered Hoskins not to use the new map, and to
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  instead use the districts adopted in 2022 after the last census. The
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  U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand on September 8, but minutes
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  later U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a conflicting order in favor
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  of the new map. The U.S. Supreme Court on september tenth blocked
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  Clark's order from taking effect. That day the Missouri Supreme Court held
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  Hoskins temporarily in contempt for telling local election authorities to use the
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  new map after Clark's order. But that wasn't the end of the
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  matter. The Eighth Circuit, hearing an appeal of Clark's blocked order, ruled
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  in favor of the Trump backed map Monday. That's what led to
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  the latest decision from the US Supreme Court. Richard von Glaon, Executive
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  Director of People Not Politicians Missouri, said the group was pressing forward
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  with its campaign to persuade voters to permanently reject the new map
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  in the November referendum. We have said from the beginning, people, not
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  politicians will be the final deciders on this D C power grab,
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  he said in a statement. Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington
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  contributed to this report. Follow the AP's coverage of the US Supreme
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  Court Act and Redistricting Act.