Map Foes Return to Supreme Court as Hoskins Faces Contempt

Opponents of Missouri's GOP map asked the Supreme Court to halt a federal judge's order, while the state's top court weighs contempt against Secretary Hoskins.

One day after Justice Brett Kavanaugh left in place the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling barring the new Republican-friendly congressional map, opponents of the map went back to the U.S. Supreme Court. In a Wednesday afternoon filing, Richard von Glahn and the group People Not Politicians asked the justices to block Clark's federal order requiring the state to use the new map. They told the court the order 'has been in place for mere hours, but the chaos it guarantees has already taken root.' Kavanaugh instructed the map's backers, including Rep. Robert Onder and Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, to respond by 10 a.m. EDT Thursday, according to SCOTUSblog.

The dispute is extraordinary because two courts are now issuing contradictory commands over the same election. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Sept. 3 that the new map never became law because a referendum petition was 'legal, sufficient, and timely.' Yet Clark then issued a temporary restraining order directing use of the 2025 map, and the 8th Circuit declined to pause it, writing that it either lacked jurisdiction or the stay factors were not met, as CBS News reports. Attorney Chuck Hatfield told reporters an 'individual federal judge cannot overrule the Missouri Supreme Court,' per NBC News.

The Missouri Supreme Court has ordered Hoskins to explain why he should not be held in contempt for a Sept. 8 email instructing election officials to use the 2025 map despite the state court's ruling, PBS News reports. Hoskins posted on X that he would not back down, saying 'I look forward to my day in court,' according to NBC News. Meanwhile, Hoskins himself had earlier instructed administrators to implement the 2022 map in compliance with the state ruling before reversing course after Clark's order.

The timing is brutal: Missouri law set a Tuesday deadline to finalize November ballot content, and federal law requires absentee ballots for overseas and military voters to begin mailing by Sept. 19, PBS News reports. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway warned in her Supreme Court application that the state was 'genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election.' Map opponents countered that a stay would harm no one, since officials have confirmed they can proceed under the old map without legal uncertainty, per SCOTUSblog.

The Trump-backed 2025 map targeted Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area 5th District, reassigning parts of Kansas City to neighboring GOP districts and stretching the remainder into rural Republican areas. About 59% of the district's voters were new under the revised map, per an Associated Press estimate carried by PBS News. Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary, while state Sen. Rick Brattin won the Republican primary in the reshaped district. Missouri currently elects six Republicans and two Democrats under its 2022 map.

Two critical hearings are set for Thursday morning: the U.S. Supreme Court receives the map proponents' response to the stay request at 10 a.m. EDT, and the Missouri Supreme Court holds its contempt hearing for Hoskins at the same hour, SCOTUSblog and NBC News report. Clark has also rejected an emergency request to stay his own order, and Hoskins separately asked the federal judge to block the state contempt proceeding. Until the Supreme Court acts, election officials face what map opponents call 'irreconcilable judicial commands' eight weeks before Election Day.