Federal court in Missouri orders old congressional map on hold, directs use of 2025 districts
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Missouri secretary of state to use a 2025 congressional map, just days after the Missouri Supreme Court said the new map was not law.
Judge Stephen Clark ordered Tuesday that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins implement the map in the November 2026 election, instead of an older map that a Missouri Supreme Court decision ordered used last week.
The 2025 map breaks up the safely Democratic Fifth District of Kansas City, subsuming it into several other districts and theoretically giving Republicans a 7-1 advantage in U.S. House seats in Missouri. Hoskins had ruled that a petition challenging the map was unconstitutional.
However, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled last week that the petition was lawful, that it should have been certified for the ballot, and that the petition suspended the law that created the new map.
Republican congressional candidates Bob Onder and Rick Brattin sued to stop the use of the old map in federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Clark issued a restraining order requiring the use of the 2025 map for 14 days while the Eastern District court hears arguments in the case.
"Using a different map for the general election would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri's congressional elections, calling into question the candidacy of those nominated in the primaries and the votes of those who voted in the primaries," Clark wrote.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a statement in support of the ruling.
"Missouri is prepared to follow and comply with Chief Judge Clark's order that binds the state to using the Missouri First map for the November General Election. We appreciate Judge Clark's support of the rights of Missouri voters, and intend to comply with this federal ruling. We maintain that changing the congressional map in between the primary and general elections is simply not feasible and profoundly unjust to Missouri voters,” Hanaway was quoted in the release.
Republican State Sen. Rick Brattin – who is running for the Fifth District -- issued a statement in favor of the federal court’s TRO.
“While I am disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court was not able to grant relief, I understand that the standard for review in our nation’s highest court limits what they can do in an unprecedented case such as this one,” the statement says. “I am glad for the citizens of our state that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri issued a stay that will allow the use of the Missouri First map for the general election, ensuring voters will not be disenfranchised by being forced to vote in a different district for November.”
Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon wrote on her social media that her office is “is unclear how the state’s 5pm deadline interacts with federal courts.”
The 2025 map was used in the August primaries to select party nominees after Hoskins declared the petition drive invalid. The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling last week overturned Hoskins' decision about the petition and said the 2025 map was not in effect.
However, voters in November will decide on whether to carry the Republican-friendly 2025 map into future elections.
Republicans in the General Assembly approved the new map last year at the urging of Gov. Mike Kehoe and the White House, overriding a map redrawn after the 2020 census.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday also rejected Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's request that the high court intervene.
