Missouri Supreme Court to review cases on new congressional map

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in cases related to the state's new congressional map.

The hearing is set to begin at 9 a.m. in the Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City. This hearing comes as an initiative petition to get the congressional map on the November ballot is under review.

The Missouri General Assembly approved the map amid a White House push to get more Republican House seats in red states. The House breaks up the Fifth District, represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver.

In March, a Cole County judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by People Not Politicians challenging whether the "Missouri First" congressional map approved by legislators last summer is already in effect. The judge stated that signing a petition did not give the group standing in the lawsuit.

The judge also added that the signatures had not been certified by the Secretary of State, so the issue raised in the lawsuit is still hypothetical. He wrote that the plaintiffs are asking the courts to relieve the Secretary of State of the role described by the Constitution.

During a hearing in February, the ACLU argued that previous Missouri secretaries of state and attorneys general followed the signature drop-off rule. The judge's decision was appealed.

In April, a judge from the Missouri Court of Appeals approved new ballot language that asks voters to approve or reject a new Congressional map.

The ballot language now reads:

“Do the people of the state of Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled “House Bill No. 1 (2025 Second Extraordinary Session),” which repeals Missouri’s existing congressional plan, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more counties intact?”

People Not Politicians, a political group, had filed an appeal in the lawsuit to challenge the previous ballot language.