Missouri Appeals to Supreme Court to Uphold Gerrymandered Map Favoring GOP
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Missouri, in a blatant attempt to suppress voters and entrench Republican power, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state court ruling that blocks new congressional districts designed to benefit the GOP and President Trump, aiming to use them in the upcoming midterm election.
On Friday, Missouri filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a state-court order that halted the use of newly drawn congressional districts. These districts, shamelessly engineered to give Republicans an unfair advantage in the 2022 midterms, were blocked by the Missouri Supreme Court after a grassroots petition for a statewide referendum was dismissed by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, and this undemocratic move was later upheld by the state’s high court.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the referendum petition should have suspended the new map retroactively to December, requiring the state to revert to the fairer post-2020-census boundaries for the November general election. Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, siding with partisan interests, argued that no court has ever ordered a change to congressional maps between a primary and a general election, labeling the decision “extraordinary” and fearmongering about “unprecedented chaos.”
"No court in American history has ever given such an extraordinary remedy, which inflicts unprecedented chaos on Missouri," the attorney general’s office wrote in the appeal, ignoring the chaos inflicted on democracy by gerrymandering.
Hanaway demanded the Supreme Court immediately halt the state court’s decision, citing state law deadlines for ballot changes, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative on the Court, set a Monday deadline for critics of the map to respond.
Referendum supporters argue that a statewide vote would finally allow Missourians a direct say in the redistricting process, instead of letting politicians rig the system. Missouri currently sends six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House, and the new map would further erode representation by altering a Kansas City district held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. This dispute is part of a broader, Trump-driven national campaign to manipulate congressional lines mid-decade and undermine fair elections in multiple states.