Supreme Court Reviews Missouri GOP Redistricting Map for Third Time
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
The U.S. Supreme Court has taken up an emergency appeal over Missouri's Republican-drawn congressional map, which opponents say forces the use of ballots already printed under a different plan.
The U.S. Supreme Court received a third emergency appeal late Tuesday concerning Missouri's congressional redistricting plan favored by Republicans. The appeal follows a federal appeals court ruling that the state must use the GOP-drawn map for the November midterm election because primary ballots had already been printed and absentee voting had begun.
The group challenging the map told the Court that "Ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed, and absentee voting, both by mail and in-person, began today. Those ballots cannot be reassigned to new districts now." Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees appeals from Missouri, has asked for a response by Wednesday afternoon.
The contested map would reshape the 5th Congressional District, currently held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, by dividing his Kansas City base and extending the district into more rural, Republican-leaning areas. Under the new plan, seven districts would lean conservative and one would lean Democratic, shifting the existing 6-2 partisan split.
Earlier this month, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the 7-1 Republican map after a state-constitutional referendum challenge. State Republicans appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to intervene. A federal district court then ordered the use of the GOP map, a decision that was again appealed to the Supreme Court, which previously rejected the map without dissenting opinions.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the GOP map but paused its effect pending further review. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling before the upcoming Monday deadline or grant a short extension.
University of Chicago law professor William Baude said the likelihood of the Court rejecting the map again is extremely high, describing the case as indicative of future election-related appeals.