Jackson County judge upholds new ‘Missouri First’ congressional map

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

EDITOR'S NOTE: A misattributed quote has been corrected.

A Jackson County circuit judge ruled Thursday that a new congressional map drawn last year amid a nationwide push by Republicans to gain an advantage in the U.S. House can remain in effect.

The map, which Gov. Mike Kehoe dubbed "Missouri First," splits up the Democrat-safe Fifth District and is the subject of multiple lawsuits and an initiative petition. Opponents argue that congressional maps can only be drawn every 10 years after the national census, per the Missouri Constitution.

Thursday's ruling came in two combined lawsuits. Circuit Judge Adam Caine stayed a ruling on one count pending a Missouri Supreme Court decision in a separate case challenging the new map, but he found for state officials on the other counts.

Caine wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs challenging the map failed to show that its districts did not meet legal standards for being "compact and contiguous."

Richard von Glahn with the group created to challenge the new map, People Not Politicians, said the bigger challenge remains whether legislators can draw a new map in the middle of the decade. That's the question at the center of the case pending before the Missouri Supreme Court, he said.

"Our position is that the details of the map are not the relevant question. Either way, politicians are trying to seize power from the people and center themselves, and not voters, in our democracy. That is wrong," von Glahn said.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, whose office defended the map in court, called the ruling a victory for the people of Missouri and their elected representatives. The ruling, Hanaway's office said in a news release, reaffirms the legislature's sole power to redraw congressional maps.

The Missouri General Assembly approved the map, which busts up Democrat Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City district, last summer as the White House pushed for Republican-dominated states to squeeze out more seats. Some states led by Democrats followed with similar moves.

Filing for the August primary election began last month under the new map.