US Supreme Court blocks Trump-backed congressional map in Missouri

The US Supreme Court on Thursday blocked a bid from the Trump administration to reactivate a Republican-drawn congressional map in Missouri, issuing an order that did not list any dissents. The ruling clears the path for the state to use the existing map in the November midterm elections, a change that could affect which party controls the House of Representatives. The vote came amid an increasingly tense legal battle over which districts will be used this year. Missouri’s highest court allowed a contempt hearing for Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins after he instructed local election officials to implement the GOP-backed map despite the state court’s previous order to use the districts drawn after the last census. The state court had directed Hoskins not to employ the new map and to use the older plan instead. Complicating matters, US District Judge Stephen Clark issued an order barring Hoskins from using any map other than the new Republican-sponsored plan, creating a direct conflict between state and federal rulings. State attorneys asked Clark to pause the contempt hearing, but he declined, and the Missouri Supreme Court proceeded to summon Hoskins for contempt proceedings. The contested redistricting was part of a broader Republican effort, following calls by former President Trump, to redraw House districts in favorable ways. Missouri’s revised plan would have reshaped a Kansas City-based seat held by Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver by moving parts of the district into neighboring areas and extending the remainder into rural Republican territory, aiming to raise Republican prospects to seven of eight House seats. Opponents gathered hundreds of thousands of petition signatures seeking a statewide referendum; those signatures were submitted in December, but Hoskins did not reject the petition until August, the day of the state primary, allowing the new districts to be used in that contest. The Missouri Supreme Court later ordered the referendum placed on the November ballot and ruled the new districts never became law, suspending them retroactively to the December petition submission. The state then appealed to the US Supreme Court to block the state court’s rulings, and Justice Kavanaugh had already declined a separate emergency request earlier in the week.