Missouri Taxpayers Face $600K-Plus Legal Bill Defending Congressional Map

The Center Square reporter Andrew Rice discusses the latest legal challenge to Missouri's congressional map, with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals set to hear the case Thursday after both the U.S. Supreme Court and Missouri Supreme Court have twice rejected the map. Rice traces the fight back to a Trump-backed redistricting effort that would shift Missouri's congressional delegation from a 6-2 to a 7-1 Republican advantage by changing one district. A citizen referendum led by the group People Not Politicians collected more than 300,000 signatures to block the map, but Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the referendum on the state's August 4 primary date, leading to the current legal battle. Rice notes that Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who represents the Kansas City area and was expected to lose his seat under the new map, called the Supreme Court's rejection of the map a "win for justice and a win for democracy." He distinguishes Missouri's case from redistricting fights in Texas and California, both of which reached the Supreme Court last year: Missouri's challenge centers on a citizen referendum process under the state constitution, while the Texas and California cases involved allegations of racial gerrymandering.