MO Court Orders House Map Put to Vote  09/04 06:28

   

   JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The Missouri Supreme Court has unanimously 
blocked new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump from being 
used in the November election and ordered a statewide vote on whether to uphold 
or reject the new map.

   The decision Thursday marks a rare setback for Republicans in a national 
redistricting battle. Republicans had hoped Missouri's new congressional 
boundaries could help them win an additional seat and hold onto their slim 
House majority in the midterms.

   Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, said she would 
immediately appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, asserting that the decision "has 
thrust our state into a fullfledged constitutional crisis."

   Missouri's new districts were used in the August primaries. But the state 
Supreme Court said they cannot be used in the November general election -- or 
ever again, unless voters first uphold the new districts passed by the 
Republican-led Legislature.

   The court ruled that the new districts were effectively placed on hold in 
December, when opponents submitted over 300,000 petition signatures seeking to 
put the map to a vote of the people. Republican Secretary of State Denny 
Hoskins waited until primary election day in August to reject the petition. He 
asserted that the referendum process cannot be used for congressional 
redistricting. A lower court agreed, but the Supreme Court overturned Hoskins' 
decision.

   "The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the 
secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise," the court said in its ruling. The 
legislation containing the new districts "did not go into effect and will not 
go into effect unless and until approved by the voters." As a result, the 
congressional map adopted after the 2020 census "remains in full force and 
effect for the November 2026 general election."

   Hanaway, whose office represented Hoskins, called the ruling an 
unprecedented violation of federal law. So did Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who 
proposed the new congressional map to lawmakers.

   "Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map 
after a primary and before a general election," Hanaway said in a statement.

   Court ruling hinged on referendum rights

   The Missouri Constitution does not specifically say a referendum petition 
can be used for a congressional redistricting law passed by the Legislature. 
But the Supreme Court ruled that a constitutional provision allowing a 
referendum on "any act" of the Legislature encompasses congressional 
redistricting.

   It rejected assertions from Hanaway's office that federal law prohibits 
referendum petitions on congressional redistricting.

   "This is what democracy looks like," said Richard von Glahn, executive 
director of People Not Politicians Missouri, which sponsored the referendum 
petition. "The people of Missouri demanded a voice, and the court just 
confirmed what we've been saying all along. People, not politicians, will have 
the final say."

   Hoskins, acknowledging the loss, vowed to continue "the war to preserve our 
constitutional republic."

   The ruling, which capped a year of political maneuvering and legal 
wrangling, was one of two to go against Republican officials Thursday. The 
Supreme Court also ruled that Hoskins had wrongly rejected a petition for a 
ballot proposal making it difficult for politicians to change measures enacted 
by voters through citizen initiatives. The court also ordered that measure to 
be placed on the November ballot.

   Missouri redistricting targeted longtime Kansas City lawmaker

   Missouri currently has six Republicans and two Democrats in the U.S. House.

   After Trump urged Republicans to redraw congressional districts to their 
advantage, Kehoe called lawmakers into a special session last year to 
dramatically reconfigure the 5th Congressional District, held by Democrat 
Emanuel Cleaver.

   Cleaver, who was unopposed in the August primary, has carried the Kansas 
City-based district with at least 60% of the vote in each of the past two 
elections.

   Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin won an August primary in the reshaped 5th 
Congressional District, which had been stretched eastward to include rural 
Republican areas. About 59% of the district's voters were new under the revised 
map, according to an Associated Press estimate.

   Cleaver had not posted campaign signs in many of the new rural areas, 
explaining that he was waiting for the Missouri Supreme Court's decision. But 
he had vowed to continue his reelection campaign regardless of the outcome.

   "Despite the cynical and deeply shameful attempt to silence many of our 
neighbors, the people fought back and won," Cleaver said in a social media post 
Thursday.

   Brattin, a Marine veteran and founding member of the conservative Missouri 
Freedom Caucus in the state Legislature, said the decision disenfranchises 
thousands of primary voters who now will be shifted to different districts with 
candidates they didn't get to choose.

   The court "handed Democrats a decision they desperately needed in their 
effort to help national Democrats retake the U.S. House of Representatives," 
Brattin said in a statement.

   Redistricting battle spread to over a quarter of states

   Congressional districts typically are redrawn at the start of each decade, 
based on new census data. But Trump's quest for a midterm election advantage 
triggered an unusual mid-decade redistricting battle that spread to more than a 
dozen states -- and triggered a dozen lawsuits in Missouri alone.

   The Missouri Supreme Court ruling was one of only a few nationally to go 
against Republicans' redistricting plans.

   Prior to its latest ruling, Missouri's top court already had rejected claims 
that the special session was illegal, mid-decade redistricting isn't allowed 
and the new districts aren't compact enough.

   After the Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday, a couple hundred people 
chanted "Let us vote!" while rallying outside the courthouse. Grant 
Christensen, of Jefferson City, said he had signed the referendum petition to 
put the map to a vote.

   "Gerrymandering is the same as voter suppression," Christensen said. 
"Cutting up districts in order to steer them to vote one way or the other is 
not fair."