Missouri Supreme Court hands GOP a win in redistricting battle

The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the Legislature’s congressional redistricting plan from last year, favoring Republicans, thereby thwarting Democratic efforts to challenge the map before the midterms.

In a tight 4-3 vote, the court decided that while the state Constitution mandates Missouri lawmakers to redraw maps after each census, it doesn’t prevent them from redistricting more frequently.

Judge Zel Fischer expressed in the majority opinion, “The obligation to legislate congressional districts once a decade does not limit the General Assembly’s power to redistrict more frequently than once a decade.”

This ruling followed Missouri Republicans’ engagement in a national redistricting conflict spurred by President Donald Trump’s initiative for GOP-led states to craft more Republican-friendly districts. Missouri’s revised map, which secures an additional seat for Republicans by altering Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City district, encountered minimal opposition in the Legislature and gained swift approval from Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.

The map has since been embroiled in numerous lawsuits and a well-funded drive to push the map to a ballot referendum, with Democrats simultaneously engaging in partisan redistricting in states they govern.

The majority judges were appointed by Republican governors, whereas one Republican-appointed judge aligned with the dissenting opinion alongside two judges appointed by Democratic governors.

The debate over the constitutional limits on the Legislature hinged on the interpretation of the word “when,” which Judge Paul Wilson described in his dissent as “the most important word” in the pertinent clause. The Constitution instructs the legislature to design new congressional districts “when … the census of 1950 and each census thereafter is certified to the governor.”

Fischer noted for the majority, “Simply put, ‘when’ does not mean ‘only when.’”

The ruling represents a significant triumph for Republicans, who aim to counteract Democratic efforts to overturn the new congressional map. Nonetheless, the future of Missouri’s new map remains uncertain as Democrats continue pursuing various strategies to challenge the map.

The National Redistricting Foundation, aligned with Democrats, is urging the state Supreme Court to consider whether the new map breaches the Constitution’s compactness criteria in a different lawsuit.

Additionally, Missouri Democrats aim to halt the map by initiating a referendum, which has encountered several legal challenges. Such a freeze might preserve the map used in 2024, thereby maintaining a Democratic stronghold.

On Monday, Democrats achieved minor successes in their referendum initiative. People Not Politicians, a group advocating for a referendum, declared that the secretary of State’s office confirmed the necessary petition signatures to force a referendum. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, will decide by late July whether the map will be presented to voters.

In a further advantage for Democrats, a state court on Friday directed Hoskins to amend the ballot summary of a prospective referendum to eliminate several instances of argumentative language.

Democrats appealed to the state Supreme Court on Monday for an additional revision of the ballot summary.