State judges blindside GOP with ruling that upends gerrymandered map

Missouri Republicans got a massive defeat on Thursday, as the state Supreme Court ruled against their mid-decade gerrymander designed to chop up Kansas City and send 7 Republicans to Congress, reported St. Louis Public Radio.

The new map, passed at the urging of President Donald Trump, would have drawn out longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

A group called People Not Politicians gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures this year to put a referendum on the ballot to let voters decide whether or not to adopt the new map. GOP Secretary of State Denny Hoskins delayed certifying the ballots for weeks, then declared the petition invalid because, in the view of GOP Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, redistricting cannot be decided by referendum.

A lower-court judge sided with the GOP, resulting in the matter being appealed to the state Supreme Court, where state officials got a hostile grilling from skeptical justices.

The new ruling not only determines the referendum can be put on the ballot, but declares the new 7-1 map is not in effect until and unless voters elect to keep it via that referendum, resetting congressional lines to the old 6-2 map for November.

Hanaway decried the decision in a post to X, saying, "Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election. This unprecedented decision clearly violates federal law and has thrust our state into a full‑fledged constitutional crisis." She has vowed to appeal the state ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.