Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri's emergency request to use a newly drawn Republican-backed congressional map in November, keeping the state's existing districts in place while voters decide the map's fate at the ballot box.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday denied Missouri's emergency request to use a newly drawn Republican-backed congressional map in November, a decision that keeps the state's existing districts in place for the general election and clears the way for voters to settle the map fight at the ballot box.
The one-sentence order, issued without explanation and without referral to the full Supreme Court, came just minutes before a statutory deadline to lock in Missouri's ballot. It is a significant moment in the mid-decade redistricting wars that have been playing out in statehouses and courtrooms across the country ahead of the midterms.
The practical effect is straightforward: Missouri will conduct the November general election using its current 6-2 congressional map rather than the newer map Republicans drew after the last census. State officials had already run their primaries this summer under the revised map, which was designed to create a seventh reliably Republican seat.
The Missouri Supreme Court had unanimously ruled that the newer map never legally took effect. A voter-backed referendum petition suspended the law before it could go into force, and that same referendum question is now set to appear before Missourians in November. Kavanaugh's order leaves that state court decision standing.
Because Kavanaugh handles emergency applications from the Eighth Circuit by default, he acted alone on the filing. State Republicans retain the option of renewing their request before another justice, though time is short with the general election less than 60 days away.
The case is the latest chapter in an aggressive mid-decade redistricting push that has defined the run-up to the midterms. National Republicans have pressed GOP-led states to redraw their House maps to create pickup opportunities, and the Supreme Court has been the final arbiter in several of those fights.
Earlier this cycle, the high court revived a Republican-friendly map in Texas that lower courts had struck down, while declining to restore a separate map passed by Virginia Democrats. Unlike those disputes, the Missouri case turned largely on state constitutional procedure: the state's own high court found the new map could not take effect while a valid referendum on it was pending.
Supporters of the referendum process welcomed Tuesday's outcome. Abha Khanna, a partner at Elias Law Group who represented the referendum organizers, called the decision a win for the hundreds of thousands of Missourians who signed petitions seeking a say on the map.
The stakes in Missouri were concrete. Under the proposed seven-district map, Republicans hoped to dismantle or flip a Kansas City-area seat currently held by Representative Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat. With the existing map restored for November, that particular pickup opportunity is off the table for this cycle.
The dueling maps also create real complications on the ground. Candidates filed for office and competed in primaries under one set of district lines, and the general election will now be conducted under another. Election officials are working through questions about which candidates qualify for which districts, and some candidates have already filed challenges arguing that changing maps mid-cycle is itself unconstitutional.
Nationally, Republicans still enter November with a strong board of pickup opportunities in states where new maps were enacted earlier, including Texas, Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Democrats have their own gains in play in California and Utah. Missouri, for now, is a state where voters -- not mapmakers -- will have the final word.
The immediate question is whether Missouri Republicans make one more attempt to keep the new map alive, either through another emergency filing or additional litigation in the coming days. The longer game, though, is now in the hands of Missouri voters.
When they head to the polls in November, they will not only choose their representatives under the existing districts -- they will also decide whether the state's newer congressional map survives at all. That referendum gives everyday Missourians the final say over a fight that has consumed state government and reached the nation's highest court.
For now, the ruling stands as a reminder that even in a heated election cycle, process matters. The courts have spoken, and in Missouri, the people are next.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri's emergency request to use a newly drawn Republican-backed congressional map in November, keeping the state's existing districts in place while voters decide the map's fate at the ballot box.
freedomlinedispatch.com
