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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge in Missouri on Tuesday temporarily blocked the state from using its old congressional districts in the November election, after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to get involved in the twisting and confusing legal battle.
The decisions highlight the bewildering nature of Missouri’s redistricting battle, which has spanned more than a year and leaves Missouri voters in some parts of the state uncertain which district they will be in on Election Day.
The federal court action came just days after the Missouri Supreme Court said the state cannot use a new U.S. House map backed by President Donald Trump in the November election because citizens turned in thousands of petition signatures demanding a statewide vote on it.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up an appeal from Missouri’s Republican attorney general, leaving in place the injunction from Missouri’s top court. But moments later, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting Missouri from using anything other than the new districts backed by Republicans.
The new districts were used in the August primary, and the winners already were certified by election officials. But the question of which districts will be used in the November election continues to linger. Clark’s order remains in place for 14 days, allowing time for additional court proceedings.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said the state “is prepared to follow and comply with” Clark’s order, which she said “binds the state to using” the new congressional districts.
But an attorney for People Not Politicians, the group which sponsored the referendum petition, stressed that the order from Missouri’s top court against using the new map also remains in effect.
Judge says switching maps could ‘wreak havoc’
Hanaway has argued it would violate federal rights and cause confusion to switch districts for voters between the primary and general elections. Clark agreed in his written order.
“Using a different map for the general election would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri’s congressional elections, calling into question the candidacy of those nominated in the primaries and the votes of those who voted in the primaries,” Clark wrote. “Widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow.”
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles cases from Missouri, did not explain the rationale for declining to take up the case.
New Missouri district targets Democrat from Kansas City
Missouri currently is represented in the U.S. House by six Republicans and two Democrats who were elected under districts that Republican state officials approved in 2022.
But at Trump’s urging, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe called the Legislature into a special session last year to redraw congressional boundaries to their advantage ahead of the midterms.
The revised map targeted the 5th Congressional District, held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigned portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretched the remainder of Cleaver’s district far eastward into rural Republican areas.
Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary. State Sen. Rick Brattin won the Republican primary in the reshaped district.
Missouri top court said new districts never became law
On the same day as the primary, Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition with thousands of signatures seeking to force a November referendum on the map. Hoskins asserted that Missouri’s Constitution doesn’t allow a referendum on congressional redistricting. A lower court agreed, but the state Supreme Court reversed Hoskins’ decision.
The state’s top court said the new districts were retroactively frozen in December, when the petition signatures were submitted, and thus never became law. Hoskins on Tuesday assigned the redistricting referendum as Proposition A on the November ballot, in compliance with the state court order.
The Missouri Constitution does not specifically say that a referendum can be used for congressional redistricting. But the state Supreme Court said a constitutional provision allowing a referendum on “any act” of the Legislature encompasses congressional redistricting legislation.
Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to respond to Trump’s call last year to redraw congressional districts. Several other states followed. All told, Republicans had hoped to win as many as 16 additional seats from new House maps enacted in eight states — Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats, whose counterattack faced several setbacks, think they could win up to six additional seats from new districts in California and Utah.
It remains to be seen whether the redistricting works as intended for Republicans. The president’s party historically has lost congressional seats in the midterms, and Trump’s poor approval ratings could provide an extra hurdle for Republican candidates.
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Whitehurst contributed from Washington.
David A. Lieb And Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press
