Hoskins Found in Contempt, Then Concedes to 2022 Map

Missouri's top court found Secretary of State Hoskins in contempt, but he purged it by ordering election officials back to the 2022 congressional map.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was found in contempt of court by the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday for instructing local election officials to use the state's redrawn 2025 congressional map. Hours later, he reversed course, directing authorities to use the 2022 map instead, and Chief Justice W. Brent Powell ruled he had thereby purged himself of the contempt. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway endorsed the reversal, saying she would comply with all court decisions.

The same day, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a brief, unsigned order pausing a federal judge's ruling that would have forced Missouri to use the 2025 map, with no noted dissent. According to CNN, the order effectively means Missouri will run November's election with the 2022 map, which offered six rather than seven winnable Republican seats. Vox reports that Republican plaintiffs filed their brief at 10:03 a.m. ET and received a denial less than half an hour later — a speed Vox reads as a signal the justices found the arguments meritless.

The loss is unusual on two fronts. First, it comes from a 6-3 conservative court that has frequently favored Republican election positions, making a quick rejection of a Trump-backed gerrymander notable. Second, the timing was extraordinary: Vox notes Justice Brett Kavanaugh had already declined a similar GOP request earlier in the week, and minutes after that denial a Trump-appointed federal judge issued a temporary order pushing the state back to the new map — which the high court then promptly froze.

During Thursday morning arguments, Missouri Supreme Court judges pressed Hoskins's attorney, William Seidleck, to acknowledge that the 2025 map, known as HB 1, never went into effect. Chief Justice Powell noted the August primary had already been held under a map that no longer exists and asked whether Hoskins intended to run a second election under it. Attorney Chuck Hatfield urged the court to bypass Hoskins entirely and order local authorities directly to use the 2022 map.

The map at issue targeted Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based 5th District, stretching it into rural Republican-leaning areas to create an additional GOP seat. CNN's analysis counts nine more seats drawn in Republicans' favor than Democrats' nationally, making Missouri part of a broader midterms battle for House control. The Trump Justice Department had urged the court to side with Missouri Republicans, with Solicitor General D. John Sauer arguing that switching maps between primary and general elections raises equal protection concerns.

Hoskins said there is no suggestion of holding a new primary, and Hanaway said she sees no legal path forward for the 2025 map absent a direct U.S. Supreme Court order. But the fight may not be finished: Rep. Bob Onder, a plaintiff in the separate federal case, pointed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals taking the matter up later this month, telling STLPR the issue isn't over. With ballots for military and overseas voters due out in nine days, election officials must now print under the 2022 lines.