The U.S. Supreme Court has intervened in a dispute over Missouri's congressional redistricting, blocking the implementation of a map favored by Republicans.
The court, in a brief order with no noted dissents, granted a request to pause a lower federal court's decision that had allowed the GOP-drawn map to proceed. This action effectively halts the implementation of the map ahead of the November general election, providing a victory for Democrats in the ongoing redistricting battles.
Missouri Republicans may still petition the Supreme Court to hear the case for a full review, but the timeline makes it unlikely that a decision would be reached before the election. This means the congressional districts will likely be based on a map favored by Democrats.
State election officials now face the task of preparing for the upcoming election using a different district map than the one used in the primary elections. The group advocating for the map favored by Democrats, People Not Politicians, hailed the Supreme Court's decision as the final word for the November election.
"The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear as was the Missouri Supreme Court," Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians, stated. He added that over 305,000 Missouri voters supported blocking the map through a referendum, asserting that "People, not politicians, will have the final say when they vote NO on Proposition A this November."
The Republican-controlled state legislature had passed a new congressional map last year that aimed to make the district represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver more favorable to Republicans. This move was part of a broader redistricting effort encouraged by former President Donald Trump.
Opponents of the map filed legal challenges, arguing that a referendum vote on the map in November should suspend its implementation until voters approved it. They contended that Missouri's elections should proceed under the older congressional map if the new one was subject to a referendum.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins initially ruled that the referendum was unconstitutional and would not be placed on the ballot. However, People Not Politicians successfully appealed this decision to the state Supreme Court, which ordered that the new map could not be used in November and allowed the referendum to proceed.
Republicans then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking its intervention while simultaneously pursuing a separate legal strategy. Earlier this month, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees federal courts in Missouri, declined to intervene in the dispute. Subsequently, a federal district court judge ordered the state to use the GOP-favored map, which had been used in the primaries, contradicting the state Supreme Court's directive.
Missouri Republicans had argued in court filings that altering the map at this late stage would disenfranchise primary voters and unilaterally invalidate a congressional map before a statewide vote.