Federal judge declines to save Missouri Republican from contempt

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, submitted a filing to federal court asking judges to step in to save him from being held in contempt after he refused to comply with a state Supreme Court ruling. Now, the court has turned him down.

In a late-night ruling, Chief Judge Stephen Clark, the top judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, said that he will not block the Missouri Supreme Court's contempt proceedings for Hoskins. The hearing is set to begin at 11 a.m. EST on Thursday.

According to Clark, the U.S. Constitution's federalism law, the Tenth Amendment, makes it clear that for him to approve an injunction against a state supreme court before it even holds a hearing would be an “extraordinary measure.” He said the court could decline to hold Hoskins in contempt or delay any ruling while the federal case proceeds.

The case follows Hoskins' email to election officials on Tuesday, instructing them to break the law and use the map the court ruled against.

Hoskins claimed that he could ignore the state's top court because federal courts take precedence over state courts under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. At least one St. Louis University Law School professor made it clear that there's only one court that can overrule the Missouri Supreme Court, and that's the U.S. Supreme Court.

Speaking on the matter Wednesday, Professor Anders Walker explained that Hoskins will likely lose this battle. Under a federal statute, the state court said in its own order, Section 1257, that only the U.S. Supreme Court can hear an appeal from a state Supreme Court. The professor made it clear that a federal district judge can't touch the same question.

On Wednesday, Hoskins had until 1 p.m. EST to submit a rationale explaining why he shouldn't be held in contempt and, in what Democracy Docket called an "unexpected move," filed a plea with the federal court to stop the contempt proceedings.

The state's high court ruled last week that Hoskins could not use the GOP-drawn maps for the November election, but he has decided to ignore it. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was then asked to weigh in, and he also sided with the lower courts.

On Tuesday, Hoskins sent an email to election officials, instructing them to use the map that the court ruled against, despite the ongoing court battles and the Sept 3. ruling against the GOP map.

There are just a few days left before mail-in ballots are set to go out to those overseas and in the military, KCTV 5 reported.