Missouri Supreme Court Upholds New Congressional Map

Missouri Supreme Court Upholds New Congressional Map

The Missouri Supreme Court once again upheld the state’s new Congressional map, which would break-up the Kansas City Democratic seat and give Republicans a 7-1 advantage.

In March, the court ruled that the General Assembly can redistrict more than once a decade.

These two decisions answered these challenges:

The court was unanimous in the two decisions delivered just a few hours after oral arguments. It was being asked in one case to toss the gerrymandered map entirely as a violation of the constitutional provision that districts be “compact and as nearly equal in population as may be.”

In the other, the court was asked to suspend the map because 300,000 signatures seeking to force a referendum were delivered to Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Dec. 9, two days before the law was to take effect.

“This court’s review of the Missouri residents’ appeals is limited to determining only the legality – not the prudence or popularity – of the map,” wrote Chief Justice W. Brent Powell. “Because the 2025 Map was not drawn in a manner violative of article III, section 45 of the Missouri Constitution, the circuit court’s judgment is affirmed.”

Judge Ginger K. Gooch wrote that Missouri’s constitution does not say anything about freezing a law when someone submits a petition.

“Nothing in article III, sections 49, 52(a), or 52(b) provides the filing of a referendum petition alone automatically suspends the act of the General Assembly at issue in the petition,” she stated. “Had the drafters intended a referendum petition filing to automatically suspend any act of the General Assembly at issue in the referendum petition, they would have so stated.”

Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.