The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously blocked a new congressional map, supported by former President Donald Trump, from being used in the upcoming November election. The court ordered that the map must be put to a statewide vote to determine if it will be upheld.
This decision represents a notable setback for Republicans in the ongoing redistricting battles nationwide. Republicans had anticipated that Missouri's revised congressional boundaries would aid them in securing an additional seat and maintaining their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, stated her intention to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, characterizing the decision as an "unprecedented violation of federal law" and a "full-fledged constitutional crisis."
The newly drawn districts had been utilized in the August primaries. However, the state's Supreme Court has stipulated that these districts cannot be employed in the November general election, nor can they be used in the future unless approved by voters.
The court found that the referendum petition, which gathered over 300,000 signatures, had legally put the map on hold in December. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins had initially rejected the petition, asserting that the referendum process was not applicable to congressional redistricting. While a lower court supported Hoskins' stance, the state Supreme Court overturned this decision.
"The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise," the court stated in its ruling. The legislation establishing the new districts "did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters." Consequently, the congressional map established after the 2020 census "remains in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election."
Republican Governor Mike Kehoe, who proposed the new map to lawmakers, echoed Hanaway's concerns. He noted that "never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election."
While the Missouri Constitution does not explicitly mention the use of referendum petitions for congressional redistricting laws passed by the Legislature, the Supreme Court ruled that a constitutional provision allowing for a referendum on "any act" of the Legislature encompasses congressional redistricting.
Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, the group that sponsored the petition, celebrated the ruling. "This is what democracy looks like," von Glahn said. "The people of Missouri demanded a voice, and the court just confirmed what we’ve been saying all along. People, not politicians, will have the final say."
Missouri currently holds six Republican and two Democratic representatives in the U.S. House. The congressional map in question was redrawn during a special legislative session called last year at the urging of former President Trump, aiming to reconfigure the 5th Congressional District, currently held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver.
The reshaped 5th Congressional District, which now includes rural Republican areas, had approximately 59% of its voters new under the revised map, according to an Associated Press estimate. Cleaver, who has historically carried the Kansas City-based district with at least 60% of the vote, had not actively campaigned in the newly added rural areas pending the court's decision but had vowed to continue his reelection campaign regardless of the outcome.
Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin, who won the primary in the reshaped 5th Congressional District, stated the decision disenfranchises thousands of primary voters. He contended that the court "handed Democrats a decision they desperately needed in their effort to help national Democrats retake the U.S. House of Representatives."
Congressional districts are typically redrawn at the beginning of each decade based on new census data. However, Trump's effort to gain an advantage in the midterm elections initiated a mid-decade redistricting dispute that affected more than a dozen states, resulting in numerous lawsuits in Missouri alone. The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling is among the few nationally that have sided against Republican redistricting plans.
Prior to this latest ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court had already dismissed claims challenging the legality of the special session, the permissibility of mid-decade redistricting, and the compactness of the new districts.
Outside the courthouse on Wednesday, hundreds of people chanted "Let us vote!" Some participants had signed the referendum petition to allow for a vote on the map. "Gerrymandering is the same as voter suppression," said Grant Christensen, a resident of Jefferson City. "Cutting up districts in order to steer them to vote one way or the other is not fair."