Justice Kavanaugh rejects Missouri attorney general’s application for stay in congressional map lawsuit
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up a case over which congressional map should be in effect in Missouri.
The court's docket entries show that Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's application for a stay of a Missouri Supreme Court ruling was denied Tuesday by Justice Brett Cavanaugh.
"We are disappointed by this ruling, and are evaluating next steps as related litigation continues," the Missouri Attorney General's Office said in a statement.
People Not Politicians, the group involved in this court case and backing the referendum on the congressional maps, said Missouri law won.
"Today’s victory belongs to them. People, not politicians, will have the final say when they vote NO on Proposition A this November," executive director Richard von Glahn said.
Hanaway has sought a stay of the state high court's ruling that a Republican-backed congressional map passed by the General Assembly was not in effect.
The new map, which was pushed by the White House, would break up a safely Democratic U.S. House seat that represents Kansas City, spreading its population among more rural districts that are likely to elect Republicans.
Hanaway filed the emergency request for a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday -- the day after the state court decided the 2025 map was not in effect for the November election. The court also ruled that voters would decide in November whether the new map is valid, or whether the state should return to the 2022 map redrawn after the 2020 census.
Hanaway's application didn't address whether the map should appear on the November ballot. Instead, it focused on which map will be in effect for the November midterms — the new map used in the August primary, or the 2022 map, last used for a congressional election in 2024.
Florida and Texas also filed a brief on behalf of 18 other states in support of Hanaway's appeal.
People Not Politicians, the group that led the charge to put a question about the map on the November ballot, argued the U.S. Supreme Court should not take up the case because it is one of state, not federal, law.
Meanwhile, Hanaway and Hoskins, with support from the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee and the Missouri Republican State Committee, argued that voters chose candidates in the August primaries, and changing districts before the general election vote would disenfranchise them.
They argued the ruling has done immediate harm to candidates and voters that must be addressed with a stay of the Missouri Supreme Court ruling.
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon told ABC 17 News during an on-air interview Tuesday that her office stands ready to implement the map, and tools on its website to help voters know which district they're in before they vote.
"We are in the process of updating our GIS maps so that when you use the lookup tool where you're seeing an actual address on a map, that will be up to date back to the congressional districts for 2022," Lennon said. "But you will also see that on your sample ballot."
Check back for updates to this developing story.
