Denny Hoskins. (State of Missouri/official photo)
Legal analyst Michael Popok broke down a dramatic day in Missouri's redistricting war, describing a "very hot and upset" state Supreme Court that found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for trying to defy its order.
On his MeidasTouch show Legal AF, Popok recapped this week's twin hearings, in which the court ruled Hoskins "was in contempt" of its Sept. 3 injunction barring him from using a Republican-drawn congressional map. The GOP secretary of state had emailed local election officials directing them to use the 2025 map anyway, citing a conflicting federal court order.
Hoskins escaped punishment only by "purging" the contempt, reversing course and instructing officials to use the older 2022 map after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the GOP version hours earlier.
The bench, Popok noted, was not happy.
Justice Paul Wilson pressed Hoskins's lawyer on the defiance, asking "what else is there to be considered other than the fact that our injunction of the Missouri Supreme Court, which has never been in effect, is still fully in effect?"
"In other words, you've never respected it," Popok translated.
Chief Justice W. Brent Powell, a Republican, said Hoskins had boxed himself in. By running to federal court, "he risked being held in contempt in one of the courts" when he could have simply waited.
The outcome locks in the 2022 map for November, preserving Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City seat and blocking the GOP's bid to expand its delegation from 6-2 to 7-1. Popok argued a fired-up electorate could help Democrats' drive for a House majority.
Attorney General Catherine Hanaway said the state would "comply with all court decisions, including orders issued by the Supreme Court of Missouri."
The 8th Circuit has since set an expedited schedule to hear the underlying appeal.
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