JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected a push to use Missouri congressional maps backed by President Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the pivotal midterm elections.
The decision appears to clear the way for the state to use the old map. There were no noted dissents in the brief order.
It comes after a pitched court battle shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections. The new map was drawn to help Republicans gain an additional seat.
The Supreme Court order came hours after a federal judge allowed Missouri’s top court to proceed with a contempt hearing against Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. Missouri’s battle over its congressional districts has spanned more than a year and spawned confusion over which districts will be in place for voters.
The state’s top court previously ordered Hoskins not to use a Trump-backed map in the general election and instead use districts passed after the last census. But U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark on Tuesday barred Hoskins from using anything other than the new map Trump supports.
The state Supreme Court then ordered Hoskins to appear for a contempt hearing Thursday for not following its orders and instructing local election authorities to use the Trump-backed districts.
State attorneys representing Hoskins had asked Clark to halt the contempt hearing. But Clark declined to do so.
Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to enact new districts after Trump urged Republicans last year to redraw House districts to their advantage ahead of the midterm elections.
The revised Missouri districts target a Kansas City-based seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by shedding parts into neighboring districts and stretching the remainder into rural Republican areas. The goal is to help Republicans win seven of the state’s eight House seats in the midterm elections — a gain of one seat.
Redistricting opponents collected hundreds of thousands of petition signatures seeking to force a statewide vote on the new districts. They submitted the signatures in December. But Hoskins waited until August — on the same day as Missouri’s primary — to reject the petition. Hoskins asserted that a referendum petition could not be used for congressional redistricting.
The delay allowed Missouri to use the new districts in its August primary. Republican state officials have argued it would violate voters’ federal rights to switch districts before the general election.
But the Missouri Supreme Court last week ordered Hoskins to put the redistricting referendum on the November ballot, which he did. It also ruled that the new districts never became law and instead were suspended retroactively to the December petition submission.
The state then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the state court’s findings. Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected their request.
The court barred Hoskins from using the new map and said the old map — passed by Republican lawmakers in 2022 after the last census — must be used in the November election. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal of that decision. But Clark issued his conflicting order moments later.
Lieb writes for the Associated Press. Whitehurst reported from Washington.
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