Clashing court rulings plunged Missouri’s congressional elections into uncertainty on Tuesday, the latest in a legal tug-of-war that comes less than two months before the November midterms that will decide which party controls a closely divided Congress.
First, the conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh denied the emergency request from Missouri officials to use a congressional map in November that was redrawn with Donald Trump’s support to give Republicans an edge in the midterms.
Then, shortly thereafter, a ruling by a federal judge in Missouri temporarily prevented the state from using its old congressional maps in the November elections. The temporary restraining order, known as a TRO, was issued by US district judge Stephen Clark and ordered Missouri to use the newly drawn districts that favor Republicans, which the state had used in its August primary elections.
“Using a different map for the general election would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri’s congressional elections, calling into question the candidacy of those nominated in the primaries and the votes of those who voted in the primaries. Widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow,” Clark, who was appointed by the president, wrote. “The public interest factor thus weighs in favor of a TRO.”
That order was swiftly appealed to the eighth US circuit court of appeals.
Tuesday’s legal action came after the Missouri supreme court ruled that the map must go before voters to approve or reject the new districts, meaning it cannot be used in the November election.
The president and Republicans had fumed over the decision, with Trump calling it “horrible, ridiculous, and unConstitutional”.
The state’s attorney general argued the decision would disenfranchise Missouri voters and thrust the state into a “full‑fledged constitutional crisis”.
Trump set in motion a national redistricting battle last year as a way to give Republicans an advantage in the midterm elections, in which the party that controls the White House has historically lost seats. But with Trump plagued by low approval ratings and an unpopular war against Iran, Republicans are bracing for potentially major losses in the House and possibly even control of the Senate. Failure to cement the Republican redistricting effort in Missouri would be a rare setback for the party that has largely succeeded in redrawing congressional lines.
Missouri was the second Republican state to act in response to the president’s push to redraw congressional maps to favor Republicans.
Mike Kehoe, the state’s governor, called the legislature into a special session last year to create new boundaries ahead of the US midterm elections.
The revised map targeted the fifth congressional district, held by longtime Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigned portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretched the remainder of Cleaver’s district far eastward into rural Republican areas.
Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary. State senator Rick Brattin won the Republican primary in the reshaped district.
Kehoe backed the temporary block of the old congressional maps on Tuesday, saying it provided “clarity” in the election process.
“With today marking the deadline for changes to the November ballot, the Missouri First Map will be used in the general election. Voters and candidates deserve consistency, certainty, and not to have the rules changed between elections,” Kehoe wrote on X.
While Republicans in the state celebrated the latest legal twist in their favor, Chuck Hatfield, an attorney for People Not Politicians, an advocacy group that sponsored the referendum petition, said the decision from the state’s supreme court remains in effect.
“An individual federal judge cannot overrule the Missouri supreme court,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
