Republican lawmakers argue during hearing that 2025 congressional map should be used in November
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Representatives for U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, State Sen. Rick Brattin (R-Harrisonville) and others asked judges with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to side with a lower court to use the 2025 "Missouri First" map in the November election.
People Not Politicians, which was intervening in the case also asked the judges to consider overturning the lower court's decision.
Judge Stephen Clark previously granted a temporary injunction, banning Secretary of State Denny Hoskins from using any other map except for the 2025 "Missouri First" map until Sept. 22, despite the Missouri Supreme Court simultaneously declaring that the 2022 congressional map be in place for the election.
Oral arguments were made through a video conference Thursday morning. Judges were concerned with their jurisdiction in the case. According to the representative's attorney, Marc Ellinger, Clark followed all necessary actions to issue the restraining order and there is no reason for it to be overturned.
Chuck Hatfield, representing People Not Politicians, argued that Clark did not have the jurisdiction to file the order, and that the restraining order will have long-standing consequences far past its intended expiration date. Military ballots are set to be sent Sept. 18 while absentee voting begins Sept. 22, preventing Hoskins from following the Missouri Court's order to use the 2022 map.
"Although styled as a TRO, the district court’s order functioned as a preliminary injunction with 'serious, perhaps irreparable, consequence,' according to Hatfield in his brief. "The TRO prevented Missouri’s chief election official from taking steps to ensure the election was conducted in districts “established by law,” as federal statutes require."
Ellinger's brief confirms that the TRO can be interpreted to have longstanding consequences, but argue that Clark was right in his ruling for the sake of election integrity.
"The centralized voter registration system is locked until at least mid-November, and implementing a different map would require transferring hundreds of thousands of voters through a multiweek process that cannot be completed in time," According to Ellinger in his brief.
Ellinger additionally questioned PNP's stake in the case, asking for the group to be dismissed by judges. Ellinger argues that the group and their director, Richard von Glahn, can not claim they would be personally affected by the use of the new map in November, as the group's main focus was the initiative petition to get the map on the ballot.
"The intervenors in this case have just a generalized interest, they're a voter and they're the proponent of a referendum, a referendum that is going to go on the ballot, so at that point, they have no interest in this case, they have no standing," Ellinger said.
According to Hatfield, von Glahn will be directly affected by the map changes and will be voting for a different candidate than the primary, similar to how Onder is affected.
"He is, he has the same allegations that the plaintiffs have in the case," Hatfield said.
The state, represented by Louis J. Capozzi, voiced concern over the precedent of allowing the 2022 map for the November election. He argued that a referendum petition signed by about 3.3% of Missouri voters should not be able to temporarily suspend a map passed by the General Assembly.
"If this maneuver stands, and it will, unless the federal courts intervene, we will have redistricting paralysis in Missouri," Capozzi said. "And every time the state tries to redistrict, at a minimum, 3.3% of voters can perform and force the use of their preferred map for at least two years, that's not democracy."
If used in November, the 2025 map is expected to give Republicans an edge in Congressional reelections by splitting up the state's Fifth Congressional district. The seat is currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The new map would fold the district into three others, with the new districts stretching across several rural areas of the state.
Hoskins is currently facing several legal battles, including the ongoing fight over Missouri’s congressional maps, in which the Missouri Supreme Court found him in contempt after he directed local election officials to use the 2025 map in violation of the court’s order. The court later found that Hoskins had purged the contempt after reversing course and directing officials to use the 2022 map.
On Tuesday, Hoskins filed an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to rule that a referendum cannot suspend a congressional map passed by the Legislature and that switching maps after the primary elections violates the U.S. Constitution.
“I'm not going to speculate on what exactly the 8th Judicial Circuit does. But what I will say is, as of today, as of right now, the only court order that I have is from the Missouri Supreme Court to use the 2022 maps,” Hoskins told ABC 17 News Wednesday when asked how confident he was that the state could use the new 2025 congressional maps. “Could that change tomorrow? Well, [it] certainly could, but I'm not going to speculate.”
The court's complete recorded audio of the argument can be found here.
