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SCOTUS Has Final Say on MO Voter Map 09/22 06:17
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A long-running legal fight over Missouri's
congressional map took another turn Monday when a federal appeals panel ruled
in favor of new districts backed by President Donald Trump, even though the
U.S. Supreme Court
https://apnews.com/article/missouri-redistricting-congressional-map-trump-c50516
2fe7880f60eb4dd587bc51d313 from being used in the November election.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Missouri
should use the https://apnews.com/hub/redistricting in the November election,
just as the state did in its August primary. To revert to its prior districts
for the general election would violate the U.S. Constitution, the appeals
judges said.
The appeals panel directed a lower court judge to issue a permanent
injunction against using anything other than the map favored by Trump. But the
ruling has no immediate impact. That's because the panel also ordered the judge
to delay the effect of the order for one week to allow time for an appeal. The
judge quickly did so.
Opponents of the new map said Monday that they will file an emergency appeal
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court already has twice sided against the Trump-backed map.
Earlier this month, it blocked enforcement of a lower court order favoring the
new map pending a potential appeal and eventual decision by the high court.
Missouri currently is set to run its November election with the same
congressional districts it used in 2024 and 2022, following prior
https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-congress-missouri-trump-gerrymandering-
5034c87f2161baa933ea337408e4c5b4 and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Appeals panel ruling comes amid absentee voting
Local elections officials already have sent absentee ballots to overseas
citizens and military voters using the 2022 districts. State law requires
absentee ballots to be available to all other voters by Tuesday.
Local elections officials theoretically could scramble to change ballots
again and could send replacements for ones already distributed. But if voters
already have cast an absentee ballot, they cannot change their vote -- even if
the district boundaries have changed.
Miller County Clerk Clinton Jenkins said he mailed an absentee ballot Friday
to a Missouri voter living in Australia and also sent ballots to other overseas
voters. But he suggested that other people "wait a little deeper into the
absentee period, just in case" the congressional district boundaries get
swapped again.
To try to change districts at this late date would be "practically
impossible" and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Missouri Association
of County Clerks and Election Authorities had told appeals judges in a legal
filing.
But an attorney representing Republicans who sued -- including U.S. Rep. Bob
Onder and state Sen. Rick Brattin, a congressional candidate -- suggested
during arguments last Thursday that there still is time to revert to the
Trump-backed map.
The appeals panel agreed, pointing to other cases in which courts have
ordered changes after absentee ballots already had been distributed to overseas
citizens and military voters.
The group People Not Politicians, which spearheaded a referendum petition to
put the new map to a statewide vote on the November ballot, said it will appeal
the latest decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"Ballots have been printed, and Missourians have already voted. Thousands
more will vote before this order seeks to take effect," Richard von Glahn,
executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, said in a statement.
"Officials should stop wasting taxpayers' money on pointless legal action and
instead focus on administering our elections."
Court ruling highlights constitutional conflict
The 8th Circuit decision puts the federal court at odds with Missouri's top
court.
"The Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional
district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August
2026 primary election," the appeals panel wrote in its decision.
The panel consists of Judge James Loken, an appointee of former President
George H.W. Bush, and two appointees of Trump -- Judges David Stras and Justin
Smith. Prior to his June appointment, Smith was an attorney who represented
Trump as he unsuccessfully appealed a $5 million jury verdict in a
https://apnews.com/article/trump-supreme-court-e-jean-carroll-defamation-769b731
baf27199224c30af55cd0a149 to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Earlier this month, the Missouri Supreme Court said the state forbids the
use of districts passed last September because opponents submitted
https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-congress-voting-map-congress-missouri-t
rump-62d7b1c08c52a0af026a1ee43917476f in December calling for a statewide vote
on the new districts.
Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until August -- on the
same day that the primary was held under the new districts --
https://apnews.com/article/redistricting-congress-missouri-trump-petition-vote-e
lection-5cfa5294a987388f38e0960e3368d320. He asserted that referendum petitions
aren't allowed for congressional redistricting.
The Missouri Supreme Court reversed Hoskins' finding, ruling that the state
must use the districts approved in 2022 for the November election. The high
court then temporarily held Hoskins in contempt when he directed local election
officials to use the 2025 map after a federal district court order favoring it.
Missouri's redistricting targets Kansas City
The new congressional map backed by Trump significantly reshapes a Kansas
City-based district held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Republicans hope
the map could help them win seven of the state's eight House seats -- one more
than they currently hold.
Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and Brattin won a multi-way
Republican primary. Brattin praised Monday's appeals panel decision, saying
that switching districts after the primary "defies common sense and undermines
the entire electoral process."
About 59% of the 5th District's potential voters are new under the revised
map, which also changes several other districts. All told, more than a million
potential Missouri voters, or nearly 1 in 4 voters statewide, are affected by
the redistricting, according to an Associated Press estimate.
Missouri's redistricting battle has been the
https://apnews.com/article/missouri-redistricting-voters-confusion-kansas-city-2
696b949d30cbb29ea8172001119dd5a among roughly a dozen states that sought to
change their U.S. House districts over the past year. Districts are usually
redrawn at the start of each decade, after a census. But Trump spurred a spate
of mid-decade redistricting last year when he urged Republican-led states to
redraw districts to gain an edge in the midterm elections that will determine
control of Congress.
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