Justices Set Monday Deadline in Missouri Map Fight

Missouri's emergency Supreme Court appeal against its map ruling drew a Monday response deadline, as Republicans also filed a new federal lawsuit.

Minutes before midnight Friday, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause Thursday's Missouri Supreme Court ruling that requires November's congressional elections to use the 2022 map rather than the Trump-backed redraw. SCOTUSblog reports that Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergencies from the region, directed challenger Richard von Glahn of People Not Politicians to respond by noon Monday, a federal holiday, signaling the justices intend to move quickly.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the constitution's referendum provision covers 'any act' of the Legislature, meaning the 300,000-plus signatures filed Dec. 9 suspended the new map before it ever legally took effect. That upended a plan Republicans counted on to flip the Kansas City-area 5th District. Scripps News reports the ruling is one of only a few nationwide to go against Republicans in the mid-decade redistricting fight, and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway called it an unprecedented violation, claiming no court has ever overturned a congressional map between a primary and a general election.

Solicitor General Lou Capozzi warned that 'a federal-election-administration disaster is unfolding in Missouri,' arguing the ruling violates the Elections Clause and disenfranchises primary voters moved into districts they never chose. SCOTUSblog reports Hoskins claimed no court has ever let just 3.3% of a state's voters suspend a congressional map by petition. Democracy Docket notes the brief invokes the Purcell principle eighteen times, while conceding the Court has never said whether it can justify a state court's late change. County clerks of both parties told state courts the switch back is simple, per STLPR.

The disputed map targeted Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, stretching his 5th District eastward so roughly 59% of its voters would be new, according to an Associated Press estimate cited by Scripps News. State Sen. Rick Brattin, who won the GOP primary under that map, faces Cleaver in November. Scripps News reports Republicans hoped such mid-decade redraws could net as many as ten additional House seats nationally to preserve their slim majority, and the state's top court already kept the 2022 map in force for the November 3 election pending the referendum, now Proposition A.

STLPR, via the Missouri Independent, reports that Paul Berry III, the Republican nominee in the 1st District, filed a separate federal lawsuit Friday arguing the real deadline for changing districts is Sept. 19, when overseas military ballots must be mailed, and asking a three-judge panel to block the reinstated 2022 map. Brattin endorsed the suit, calling it an effort to protect Missourians' constitutional rights. Attorney Chuck Hatfield for People Not Politicians, according to STLPR, said Hanaway's appeal of her own state Supreme Court's precedent is unprecedented for a Missouri attorney general.

Von Glahn's response to the emergency application is due by noon Monday, Labor Day, and Missouri asked for a decision by Sept. 14 so ballots can reach overseas military voters by Sept. 19, STLPR reports. In the meantime, the state Supreme Court denied Hoskins' request to pause its own order without comment, and election officials in Jackson County told the Kansas City Star they can run the election in the old boundaries. If the justices decline to intervene, the referendum will appear as Proposition A while the 2022 map governs November's voting.