SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The Supreme Court has blocked a Republican attempt to win a house seat in Missouri by redrawing voting districts. This is the case that has been twisting and turning through conflicting court rulings, even as voting for the midterms has started. This could be a boost for Democrats hoping to take back control of the House. The run-up to the midterms has been dominated by aggressive redistricting, urged on by President Trump. Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio has been following all of those twists and turns and joins us now. Hey, Jason.
JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Thank you so much for having me.
DETROW: We will get into the details of the ruling in a minute, but let's start here. What is the bottom line on where this now stands?
ROSENBAUM: This decision blocks the Republican redistricting that would have helped them flip a seat held by Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It would have redrawn his district to be mostly with Republican voters, but now it stays as a heavily Democratic district. That's what the Missouri State Supreme Court had ordered.
But a federal court and appeals court had ruled the opposite way. The U.S. Supreme Court, late this afternoon, decisively rejected that without any dissent. And with the Republicans holding the House majority by just a few seats and turning several their way in redistricting in other states, this is one of the seats that could determine who controls the chamber after the midterms.
DETROW: And I want to talk about one of the big wrinkles and confusing factors here. There was a primary in August, and it used the Republican-drawn map - right? - the map that is no longer in play.
ROSENBAUM: Right, and - so a couple of things happened here. After Republicans passed the new map in the legislature, citizens got a petition drive going to put it to voter approval. Usually, that holds a law up while that's pending. But the Republican secretary of state waited until the last minute to reject it and incorrectly claimed that a congressional map was not subject to a referendum. Because of that, Republicans argued it was too late to switch back to the old map for the general election. But the state Supreme Court said, no, the new map was subject to a referendum and cannot take effect unless voters approve it, so they said it can't be used. They even held Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt.
The U.S. Supreme Court noted that Missouri's Supreme Court warned Hoskins that if the referendum went on the ballot, it would freeze the map. And the unanimous High Court ruling noted that Hoskins nevertheless chose to proceed with the 2025 map for the primary despite, quote, "significant risks." The court said changing things now would have just caused electoral chaos.
DETROW: So this has been in the news a lot, a lot of focus on it. What has the reaction been so far?
ROSENBAUM: Democrats here are relieved because they have a map that protects Cleaver and makes it harder for Republicans to keep the house. The main redistricting opponent, Richard von Glahn, the executive director of the group leading the referendum effort said the ruling was a validation of their strategy to have Missourians decide the fate of the Trump-backed map. He said, quote, "we are done with corrupt politicians trying to force their map into effect outside the process outlined in the Missouri Constitution."
DETROW: Had ballots gone out already?
ROSENBAUM: Yes, early voting with an excuse is underway currently in Missouri, and election officials were giving voters ballots based on the older congressional map. There's even been some early in-person voting for special cases. And election officials had urged the court not to switch back to the map the legislature passed. That was the map passed at the urging of President Trump. That was primarily because it would cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to print new ballots. So not only a win for Democrats and proponents of a statewide vote on the map, it's a huge relief to local officials running Missouri's elections.
DETROW: OK, so the ballots that went out were for the map that is now the map that's in use.
ROSENBAUM: Yes.
DETROW: OK. That is Jason Rosenbaum from St. Louis Public Radio. Thank you so much.
ROSENBAUM: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
