U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 12, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis
With the 2026 midterms less one and one-half months away, a chaotic redistricting battle rages on in deep red Missouri. And MAGA Republicans are continuing to fight a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the state's congressional map.
Politico's Josh Gerstein, early Wednesday morning on X, reported, "BREAKING: Missouri redistricting fight hits [Supreme Court] for 3rd time. Opponents of plan likely to shift 1 House seat to GOP say appeals court basically defied earlier SCOTUS ruling. Kavanaugh sets short fuse, orders response by 2PM Wednesday."
CNN's Aaron Blake, responding to Gerstein's tweet, posted, "There are less than six weeks until the election, and we still don't know which districts Missouri is using."
Gerstein, in Politico, explains, "Opponents of a GOP-friendly gerrymander in Missouri are again asking the Supreme Court to put the plan to rest with a definitive ruling. It's the third time the issue has reached the High Court in the past few weeks. Both of the prior trips resulted in rulings against the state's new, GOP-friendly House map, but a federal appeals court panel rekindled the fight Monday when it ordered the state to use the new map in November."
Gerstein continues, "The new emergency appeal from redistricting opponents asks Justice Brett Kavanaugh to block this week's unusual decision from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, which came despite a unanimous ruling from Missouri's top court that the election should proceed under an existing map that gives Republicans a 7-2 advantage over Democrats in the state's House delegation. Kavanaugh put the latest request on a short fuse. He ordered state officials and Republican candidates seeking to stick with the new map to respond by 2 p.m. Wednesday."
Gerstein notes that although "the new pro-GOP map was used for primary elections" in August, the Missouri Supreme Court "ruled those lines never went into effect because a successful petition drive meant the new map required approval from the state's voters in a referendum prior to being adopted."
"The U.S. Supreme Court's first snub of the Republican-led effort came on September 8, when Kavanaugh turned down an emergency appeal by state officials seeking to overturn the Missouri Supreme Court's decision," Gerstein notes. "However, within minutes of Kavanaugh's order, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, granted a restraining order two GOP candidates sought against using the older lines for the general election. A challenge to Clark's order eventually reached the full Supreme Court, which put it on hold two days later."
Gerstein adds, "While no justice noted any dissent from the ruling, the justices also offered no explanation for it, which the 8th Circuit appears to have interpreted as leaving them free rein on the issue."