The Supreme Court denied an effort by Missouri officials to reinstate a new congressional map for the November election after the Missouri Supreme Court ruled voters would have to approve the new map via a ballot measure.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the justice assigned to handle emergency petitions from Missouri, denied the emergency application, declining to elaborate on his decision. The order late Tuesday means the Missouri Supreme Court ruling reinstating the congressional map used during the 2022 and 2024 elections, and placing the new congressional map up for a vote, remains in effect.
Missouri conducted its primary elections in August using the new congressional map, which was drawn to net Republicans an additional seat in the House of Representatives, but the ruling means the general election in less than two months will be held under the former congressional map first used four years ago. Officials in the Show-Me State had been awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on the emergency petition before proceeding with how to conduct the House elections in November.
Missouri Solicitor General Louis Capozzi asked the Supreme Court to halt the state high court’s ruling, warning of a “federal-election-administration disaster.”
“No court in American history has ever given such an extraordinary remedy, which inflicts unprecedented chaos on Missouri,” Capozzi wrote. “Looking backwards, the order renders a completed federal Primary Election utterly pointless—disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters who will now be moved into new districts and forced to vote for candidates they had no role in selecting. Looking forwards, the State is genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election.”
In Missouri, citizens may gather signatures to place a passed piece of legislation on the ballot for a referendum, but before the vote is held, the law’s enactment is suspended. The validity of the signatures gathered for the petition to place the law on the ballot had been the subject of intense litigation, with the Missouri Supreme Court ruling the law should be placed for a vote and the new congressional map may not be used unless it passes the referendum.
MISSOURI ASKS SUPREME COURT TO OVERTURN BLOCK OF NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP BEFORE ELECTION
The ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court last week dealt with state constitutional matters, which are disputes the U.S. Supreme Court typically does not weigh in on.
Earlier this year, Democrats in Virginia unsuccessfully attempted to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate a congressional map, which would have allowed them to net multiple seats in the House, after the Virginia Supreme Court found the referendum approving the map was unlawful.