In Blow to Republicans, Supreme Court Greenlights Missouri Map Returning One Seat to Democrats

In a blow to Republicans, the Supreme Court has paused a lower court order that would have allowed Missouri to use a new congressional map drawn to give the GOP an additional seat in the House. Democrats will now almost certainly take two seats in the state this year rather than just one, as Republicans had wanted. In a brief order posted Thursday morning, the Supreme Court in an apparently unanimous decision paved the way for the old congressional map, which featured two deep-blue districts, to be used this year. A district court judge had greenlit the use of the Republican gerrymander, ruling that because the congressional primaries had already happened, it would not be feasible for the old map to be used. “Using a map other than [the Republican gerrymander] would disenfranchise primary-election voters and undermine the nominations of candidates chosen in the primaries, leading to ‘certain’ and ‘great’ harm,” Judge Stephen Clark wrote in his opinion earlier this week. “The primary ballots cannot simply be recounted under the 2022 districts, as the district boundaries and candidates would not be the same for all voters. And the harm could not be more imminent: under state law, the deadline for finalizing the ballot is today, September 8.” On Wednesday, the Eighth Circuit declined to block his ruling. In its order, the Supreme Court stated that it would pause the use of the Republicans’ map. No justice dissented from the ruling after Justice Brett Kavanaugh referred the issue to the court. The Missouri supreme court declared that the Republicans’ map was illegal and violated the state constitution. Justice Kavanaugh then saved Democrats on Tuesday — on the same day Judge Clark handed down his ruling — when he declined to block the state supreme court’s decision. Because Missouri’s mail ballots will begin being sent out on September 19, it is almost certain that the GOP gerrymander will not be used in November.

In Blow to Republicans, Supreme Court Greenlights Missouri Map Returning One Seat to Democrats

In Blow to Republicans, Supreme Court Greenlights Missouri Map Returning One Seat to Democrats

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