Missourians this month protected abortion rights, shot down an attempt to redraw the state’s congressional lines, and voted to make it harder for lawmakers to overturn citizen-led ballot measures.
Those votes came after an extended legal battle over whether two of those measures — Proposition A and Amendment 6 — should be on the ballot at all.
As the attorney for the citizen groups behind both measures, Jefferson City-based attorney Chuck Hatfield has been at the center of the state’s political drama this year.
Hatfield said that litigating fast-moving election law issues requires working in a “different mindset.”
“You don't have 30 days to wait, which is kind of a lawyer's standard unit of measurement,” Hatfield told KCUR’s Up To Date. “Sometimes you had hours – and you just got to shift your mindset and move on. You don't have time to write a 70 page long detailed analysis of the law. You have to explain the practicalities of the situation to the courts and move as quickly as you can.”
And while courts tend to consider cases slowly, judges generally understand that lawsuits over impending elections have to move quickly.
While Missouri voters had their say in November, the election might not have closed the door on some of these issues.
Some Missouri Republicans have indicated that they’d look for new ways to restrict abortion access and change the initiative petition process. And although it may not be a priority, GOP lawmakers haven’t ruled out the potential of redistricting again before the 2028 election.
Hatfield told Up To Date he expects to be back in court to defend the Amendment 6 and Proposition A.
“I like to say that anybody with $300 and a bad attitude can file a lawsuit,” Hatfield told KCUR’s Up To Date. “So it wouldn't surprise me to see additional lawsuits about either one of these measures.”
- Chuck Hatfield, Jefferson City-based attorney
