The United States Supreme Court has again rejected a request from the administration of President Donald Trump to use electoral district maps that would favour his Republican party in the state of Missouri. The court issued the latest order on Thursday, without noting any dissents to the decision, apparently clearing the way for Missouri to use the old map in mid-term elections this November that could determine which party controls the House of Representatives. Earlier in the week, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump -appointee, rejected another request from the administration to put the new Republican-backed map into effect, without referring the case to the full nine-member court, or offering an explanation for his decision.
Kavanaugh handles emergency matters from Missouri. Missouri’s battle over its congressional districts has spanned more than a year and spawned confusion over which districts will be in place for voters. The rejection on Thursday came hours after a federal judge allowed Missouri’s top court to proceed with a contempt hearing against Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
The state’s top court previously ordered Hoskins not to use a Trump-backed map in the general election and instead to use districts passed after the last census. At the same time, US District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump -appointee, on Tuesday barred Hoskins from using anything other than the new map Trump supports. The state Supreme Court then ordered Hoskins to appear for a contempt hearing on Thursday for not following its orders and instructing local election authorities to use the Trump-backed districts.
State attorneys representing Hoskins had asked Clark to halt the contempt hearing – but he declined. Missouri was the second Republican-led state, after Texas, to enact new districts after Trump urged Republicans last year to redraw House districts to their advantage ahead of the midterm elections. The revised Missouri districts target a Kansas City-based seat held by Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver by shedding parts into neighbouring districts and stretching the remainder into rural Republican areas.
The goal is to help Republicans win seven of the state’s eight House seats in the midterm elections — a gain of one seat. Redistricting opponents collected hundreds of thousands of petition signatures seeking to force a statewide vote on the new districts. They submitted the signatures in December.
But Hoskins waited until August — on the same day as Missouri’s primary — to reject the petition. Hoskins asserted that a referendum petition could not be used for congressional redistricting. The delay allowed Missouri to use the new districts in its August primary.
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