The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked Missouri from using a new Republican-drawn congressional map, ending — at least for November — more than a year of conflicting court orders over which district lines the state will run its midterm elections on.
The ruling, handed down last week, means Missouri will use its 2022 congressional map rather than the boundaries backed by President Trump and Missouri Republicans, Fox News reported.
The court issued only a brief order and did not explain its reasoning. Fox News reported the decision came after more than a year of legal battles over which map should apply.
That fight ran back and forth between state and federal courts. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Republican-drawn map could not take effect unless voters approved it in a statewide referendum, according to Al Jazeera.
Missouri Republicans then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate it. Justice Brett Kavanaugh turned the request down without referring it to the full nine-member court and without explaining his decision, Al Jazeera reported — and within hours a federal district judge, Stephen Clark, ordered the opposite, temporarily directing the state to use the Republican map under an order set to run for 14 days.
The practical consequences are unusual. Missouri held its primaries in August under the new map, so candidates won their party nominations in districts that will not exist in November, and must now campaign across the 2022 lines.
More than one million Missourians — close to a quarter of the state’s electorate — will vote in a different congressional district than the one in which they cast a primary ballot weeks earlier.
The reversal matters most in Missouri’s 5th District, the Kansas City seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
The new map would have shifted parts of that district into more Republican-leaning areas, making the seat more competitive. The 2022 boundaries keep it more favorable to Democrats.
Republicans hold six of Missouri’s eight House seats to the Democrats’ two, and had hoped the new map would put seven of the eight within reach.
President Trump called the ruling a “dark day.”
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, who opposed the decision, discussed it on “Fox & Friends.” The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News.
Click here to read the full story on Fox News
