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🇺🇸 United States /Crime & Justice

Supreme Court rebuffs Missouri's request for new House map favoring GOP

From CBS News · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire From a news agency Outcome reported
  • The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Missouri officials’ request to use newly drawn congressional districts in the November election, leaving an earlier state court ruling in place.
  • The map, backed by President Donald Trump, would have made Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-area district more favorable to Republicans.
  • The decision creates a setback for Republicans seeking to protect their narrow House majority in a broader redistricting effort.

The Supreme Court turned away Missouri officials who wanted to use a new congressional map in November, dealing Republicans a setback in their effort to protect a slim House majority.

The justices left in place a ruling by Missouri’s highest court that blocked the new districts. The state court said the map could not be used because it had been superseded by a citizen petition seeking a statewide vote. Missouri must instead return to the districts adopted after the last census.

A federal-election-administration disaster is unfolding in Missouri.

· Catherine HanawayThe Missouri attorney general used the phrase in an emergency application urging the Supreme Court to block the state court ruling.

Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway had asked the Supreme Court to intervene. She argued that changing the map between the primary and general elections would violate federal rights and confuse voters. In an emergency application, she warned that “A federal-election-administration disaster is unfolding in Missouri” and could create “unprecedented chaos.” She also said the state was unsure whether it could change the map in time to conduct the election.

unprecedented chaos

· Catherine HanawayHanaway warned that switching congressional maps between the primary and general elections could create confusion.

Richard Von Glahn, who sued over the map, urged the court not to step in. He argued that Missouri had “waited as long as possible to manufacture the present dispute” by delaying action on the referendum petition. Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected Hanaway’s request on Tuesday.

The legislature passed the new map after Gov. Mike Kehoe called a special session at Trump’s urging. It targeted the 5th Congressional District, held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, by moving parts of Kansas City into Republican-held districts and extending the remainder eastward into rural Republican areas. The new districts were used in the August primaries, where Cleaver faced no Democratic opponent and state Sen. Rick Brattin won the Republican primary. Missouri’s current delegation includes six Republicans and two Democrats.

waited as long as possible to manufacture the present dispute over Missouri's congressional districting map

· Richard Von GlahnVon Glahn opposed Supreme Court intervention in the redistricting case.
About this summary

Originally published by CBS News. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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