Cole County Courthouse hosts another bench trial over congressional map
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Editor's Note: AI has been used in background research for this article
The battle for Missouri's true congressional district map continued Tuesday as the state and the ACLU returned to the Cole County Courthouse for a bench trial on whether a new mid-decade congressional map is already in effect.
The ACLU, representing two Kansas City voters, is seeking a preliminary injunction to pause the use of the map established by House Bill 1.
The lawsuit, filed by the ACLU in December 2025, challenges the state's claim that the new map is active. The group argued that the Missouri Constitution requires a law to be suspended once a referendum process begins. The group claims that the map became frozen when the secretary of state received 305,000 signatures for the ballot initiative on Dec. 9. According to the lawsuit, the map should remain frozen until a public vote in the November election.
Filing for Missouri's August primary, including U.S. House seats, begins later this month. The new map would eliminate a safely Democratic U.S. House seat in Kansas City.
The Missouri Attorney General's Office argued that the ACLU and the group People Not Politicians, which handed in the petitions, are presenting a false narrative. State attorneys claimed that a law is only frozen after the secretary of state validates the submitted signatures. Louis Capozzi, an attorney representing the state, argued that the ACLU can only sue after that certification is complete.
To qualify for the ballot, referendum petition signatures must equal 5% of legal voters in each of two-thirds of the state's congressional districts. County election offices have until July to verify the signatures. The state maintains that it has not yet been confirmed if enough valid signatures were submitted to meet these requirements.
The political action committee Put Missouri First was permitted to join the lawsuit as a defendant. In court documents, the group argued it should be involved because it opposes the redistricting referendum and is responsible for funding and organizing opposition efforts.
This is an ongoing story.
