The Missouri Supreme Court has upheld the state’s Republican-backed congressional map, handing GOP leaders another major victory in the nationwide redistricting battle that has intensified following the Supreme Court’s recent Voting Rights Act ruling.
In a pair of unanimous decisions Tuesday, Missouri’s high court ruled the so-called “Missouri First Map” can remain in effect while legal and procedural fights continue over a referendum effort seeking to overturn it.
The map, backed by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe and passed by GOP lawmakers last year, was specifically designed to flip one of Missouri’s two Democrat-held congressional districts and create a 7-1 Republican advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.
But even before the rulings were issued, top Missouri Republicans were already discussing an even more aggressive redraw that could potentially eliminate the final Democratic-held seat entirely and create an 8-0 Republican map.
“I would love to see an 8-0 map,” Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said Tuesday, citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling restricting race-based districting.
“We have racial gerrymandering right now in St. Louis in Congressional District 1,” Hoskins added. “The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that there is no more racial gerrymandering.”
The Missouri Supreme Court’s decisions rejected arguments from the ACLU and activist groups that a referendum petition automatically suspended the congressional map after organizers submitted more than 300,000 signatures last December seeking to overturn the law.
Democrat-aligned plaintiffs argued the map should have been frozen immediately upon submission of the referendum petitions.
But the court sided with the state, ruling the Missouri Constitution does not provide for an automatic suspension simply because petition boxes were filed.
Judge Ginger Gooch wrote that if the drafters of the constitution intended automatic suspension, “they would have so stated.”
The court also upheld lower court findings rejecting claims that the map violated constitutional compactness requirements.
The legal fight centered heavily on Kansas City, where Republicans split the city into multiple congressional districts
