After court flurry, Missouri officials set aside GOP redistricting

0:00Democrats got a win today if it holds up. Missouri officials have blocked the redistricting plan that Republicans passed to give Republican candidates and edge in the midterms. This development comes after a flurry of court activity today. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum is here to explain, hi, Jason. Thank you so much for having me. The Missouri Supreme Court got involved in this case today and not for the first time. The court held a hearing to determine if the Secretary of State was in contempt. Tell us what was happening. So that's Missouri Secretary of State, Denny Hoskins, he's a Republican. He was telling local election officials to use a map Republicans passed last year at the urging of President Trump. The State Supreme Court had warned him. He couldn't do that because the redistricting is also up for a public vote in November. They say that blocks the new maps for this year. But Hoskins got some help in the last week when a federal court here ordered that the GOP map must be used. So you had different orders from state and federal courts. But then this morning, the US Supreme Court

1:01temporarily blocked that federal order at least until the case can be heard. So Hoskins agreed to go back to the old map and give those instructions around the state. The State Supreme Court found that he had actually been in contempt but had corrected himself and would not be punished. This redistricting covers the entire state. But I understand it's a Republican attempt to try to flip one particular seat from blue to red. What seat is that? So that is the fifth district, which is represented by Congressman Emanuel Cleaver. He's a Democrat. He's from Kansas City. And Republicans tried to draw him out of his seat as part of a national Trump-backed effort to draw more GOP seats ahead of the midterm elections. But in Missouri, redistricting opponents gathered signatures to put the map up for a vote. And the state court said that prevented it from being used this year. Cleaver told me on Thursday that he's grateful for people stepping up. Right here in the middle of the country, in the sometimes cold Midwest, where people became so upset

2:06that they did what one can do only in a democracy. And they went out and organized. Republicans made no secret whatsoever that they wanted to house Cleaver to help Trump. And it wasn't about face. They didn't go after him in 2022, likely because he's close with a lot of Missouri Republican leaders. Jason, with today's rulings, this case is still not officially over, is that correct? Right. The federal case, the one the US Supreme Court put temporarily on hold. It's not over. The appeals court set a hearing on that case for a week from today. But that is only a day before the deadlines for election supervisors to send out military ballots. Redistricting opponents say it will be very hard to change back to the GOP map. And several legal experts I spoke with said the fact that the US Supreme Court endorsed a stay with no noted dissents. It suggests the high court may not be interested in putting the Trump-backed map back in place before the November elections. But we'll have to see what happens. Jason, a big picture question beyond Missouri remind us where redistricting stands nationwide.

3:09So Trump set off this unprecedented mid-decade race. And it's usually done at the start of the decade, Republicans in states like Texas and Florida and Louisiana redistricted. And that tilted about nine more seats there way than Democrats did in response, mainly in California. The GOP only has a narrow control of the House. Every seat could count. And it will be up to the voters to show whether these new Republican-leaning seats end up actually electing Republicans. That is Jason Rosenbaum and St. Louis. Jason, thank you for covering this for us. Thank you for having me.