JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald 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 a map passed in 2022, as the state’s highest court ordered.
READ MORE: Competing court orders add confusion to Missouri congressional elections
It’s part of a pitched legal battle that has created confusion for voters and others shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections. The Trump administration had urged the court to keep the president’s preferred maps, which were aimed at gaining one additional GOP House seat.
No Supreme Court justices publicly dissented from the brief order. It did not detail the court’s legal reasoning, as is typical in emergency appeals.
Meanwhile, the legal fight featuring dueling orders from different courts continued unfolding in Missouri, where the state’s top court held a hearing Thursday on whether to hold Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for not following its orders to use districts passed after the last census. Hoskins had instead told local election authorities to use the new Trump-backed map, pointing to a competing order from a federal judge on Tuesday requiring its use.
Missouri Supreme Court judges, while questioning a state attorney representing Hoskins, repeatedly pressed for Hoskins to send out new guidance Thursday to use the 2022 version of the congressional districts. The court made no immediate decision on whether to hold Hoskins in contempt for his actions but urged him not to stray too far from the state’s capital of Jefferson City.
“We’re in a precarious situation,” Chief Justice W. Brent Powell said.
Hoskins sat silently in the center of the courtroom’s front row but left without answering reporters’ questions. Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway also left without answering questions.
Missouri Deputy Solicitor General William Seidleck told the court that Hoskins is evaluating his next steps.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision likely means Missouri will run the general election with a different congressional map than was used in the primary. Some people might not be able to vote for the same candidate they chose in the primary. It’s an unusual situation that leaves Missouri without a clear-cut example to follow.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
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.
It 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 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.
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 decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected the 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 group People Not Politicians Missouri, which sponsored the redistricting referendum, applauded the Supreme Court decisions that left the state court ruling in place.
“The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear as was the Missouri Supreme Court,” said Executive Director Richard von Glahn. “The courts have settled this, now it’s up to Missouri voters to finish the job and vote NO on Proposition A.”
Whitehurst reported from Washington.
