The Missouri Supreme Court enacted the state’s Republican-drawn gerrymander on Tuesday, allowing it to likely take effect for the midterms by handing the GOP victories on two major redistricting cases.
The court ruled that the state’s new map — which Republicans in the Legislature drew to break up a Kansas City-area Democratic seat and shift the delegation from 6-2 Republican to a 7-1 advantage — did not violate the state constitution’s redistricting clause. The court also ruled against Democrats in the state who filed a petition seeking to force a referendum on the map, declaring the filing of the petition does not automatically suspend the new map.
The decisions strike a huge blow to Democrats, who had asked the court to enjoin the GOP gerrymander, and significantly reduce the prospect of the map’s opponents being able to prevent the new lines from being used in November.
It’s the latest in a series of redistricting victories won by Republicans through the courts. The Supreme Court ruled last month to weaken the Voting Rights Act, clearing the way for several Republican-controlled states in the South to pursue new congressional maps ahead of the midterms. And Virginia’s Supreme Court invalidated a referendum-approved map on Friday that would have tilted four seats toward Democrats.
James Blair, the former White House deputy chief of staff who is overseeing President Donald Trump’s political operation, celebrated the court’s decisions as a death blow to the long-shot Democratic effort.
“Locked in Missouri,” he wrote on social media.
The Missouri court upheld lower court decisions in both cases, rejecting an argument in one case from lawyers working with the Democratic-aligned National Redistricting Foundation who claimed the GOP gerrymander violated a clause in the Missouri Constitution stating that the state’s congressional districts must be compact.
In the second case, the court rejected an argument from Democrats that the new map must be temporarily suspended while the Missouri secretary of state considers the referendum petition on the new map, in order to preserve Missourians’ state constitutional right to petition for referenda before laws are enacted.
While Democrats’ referendum petition is still pending approval, the decision may end up eliminating the possibility of freezing or canceling the map before November. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, can wait until late July to determine whether the referendum is valid and would go in front of voters.
If it is validated, state law requires any law under consideration for voters to be suspended.
But a decision from Hoskins could come days before the state’s Aug. 4 primaries. Republicans hope that the timing so close to an election would make it impossible to stop the primary, effectively putting the 7-1 map in place while Missouri voters consider if they want to invalidate it or not.
People Not Politicians, the Democratic group that organized the referendum campaign, has said it has submitted enough valid signatures to push the new map to a vote. Richard von Glahn, the organization’s executive director, called on Hoskins to make a determination on the referendum as soon as possible.
“Unnecessary delays by politicians do not change this fact. If he continues to delay then he is moving forward under a map that has been suspended by the people,” he said in a statement.
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