Red state Republicans threaten to impeach their own Supreme Court over map showdown

Missouri Republicans delivered a threat to their own state Supreme Court this week that if Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is held in contempt, the justices could lose their jobs.

The threat comes even as the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Missouri from using a Trump-backed congressional map for November, a move that likely settles the underlying map fight against Hoskins and leaves the state on track to use its older 2022 districts.

Fourteen GOP members of the Missouri General Assembly signed a letter Wednesday to Chief Justice W. Brent Powell, vowing to launch impeachment proceedings against justices if the court rules against Hoskins over the state's chaotic congressional map fight.

"Should Secretary Hoskins be held in contempt, we will petition the Speaker of the House and legislative leadership to begin impeachment proceedings against the responsible members of this Court for willful neglect of duty, incompetency, and misconduct under Article VII, Sections 1 and 2 of the Missouri Constitution," the letter reads.

On Sept. 3, the state's high court barred Hoskins from using the map that reshaped Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City seat, ordering the older 2022 lines and a statewide referendum on the November ballot. Hoskins kept directing local officials to use the new map anyway, citing a conflicting federal order and prompting redistricting foes to seek a contempt finding.

Hoskins appeared before the court Thursday morning, sitting for roughly an hour of questioning about his defiance. The justices had not issued a contempt ruling as of Thursday afternoon.

Missouri House Democrats condemned the threat.

"Missourians forcefully responded to Republicans' attempted power grabs last month by rejecting Amendments 4 and 5," the caucus said in a statement. "They will react even worse to the GOP openly intimidating the Supreme Court as it considers whether the state's highest election official abused his authority in defiance of the law."

Republicans counter that Hoskins was merely obeying a federal court order, and that punishing him would trample the separation of powers.