The Missouri Supreme Court wants a quick resolution in lower courts of a lawsuit that will decide if voters will see a congressional redistricting referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot.
In a Monday letter to Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green, Chief Justice William Brent Powell noted that state law requires the case to be moved to the front of the docket “and heard and decided…as quickly as possible.”
Whatever he decides, Powell wrote, the case is likely to be appealed.
“Accordingly, the matter must be handled expeditiously to ensure sufficient time for expedited appellate review to be completed,” Powell wrote. “Your cooperation in ensuring a timely resolution of this matter in both the circuit and appellate courts is appreciated.”
The trial court must act quickly because state law doesn’t allow the courts to add anything to the ballot after Sept. 8.
Ongoing fight over gerrymandering
The case over whether the referendum will be on the ballot is the last chance for the campaign to overturn the gerrymandered redistricting plan that Republicans pushed through the Legislature last year under pressure from President Donald Trump. Through more than a dozen lawsuits, opponents of the plan have lost or been stymied as they questioned the legality of the map passed to favor Republicans in the 5th Congressional District.
On Aug. 4, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins blocked from the ballot a referendum petition submitted by a political action committee called People Not Politicians that contained more than 300,000 signatures. At the same time, he declared that a proposed constitutional amendment, submitted by initiative petition, will not be on the ballot because it improperly includes more than one subject.
Hoskins declared that the Missouri and federal constitutions do not allow a referendum on a redistricting plan. Hoskins refused to say whether either petition had enough signatures to make the ballot, saying his determination they were unconstitutional made the signature counts irrelevant.
People Not Politicians filed a lawsuit the same day challenging Hoskins’ decision. Respect MO Voters, the political action committee behind the petition that would be Amendment 6 if it makes the ballot, filed a lawsuit on Thursday.
Green late on Monday set the first hearing in the referendum case for Wednesday morning. He will also hold the first hearing on a lawsuit challenging the decision on the initiative.
There will be no decision on Wednesday. The hearings will set a schedule for filing arguments and holding trials.
Potential long-term effects
There is more at stake in the ultimate outcome of the case over the referendum than whether it will be on the ballot.
If the court upholds Hoskins, it means Missourians can never again use the referendum process to challenge a redistricting plan.
If the court orders the referendum to be placed on the ballot, it will trigger what could be one of the most expensive ballot measure campaigns in Missouri history. The costliest was in 2024, when more than $50 million was spent for and against sports wagering.
And it would throw the results of the Aug. 4 primary into question. Candidates were nominated in six districts that had their boundaries changed when the gerrymandered map was passed.
The candidates with the most direct interests are in the 5th District. Republican State Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville won the GOP nomination to oppose Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City.
If the map drawn last year is used, Brattin has the edge, based on Republican success in past elections. If the map used for the 2022 and 2024 elections is used, Cleaver will have the advantage in a district where he has rarely received less than 55% of the vote.
Hoskins, at the news conference announcing his decisions, said that because the Missouri Constitution is silent on the question of whether redistricting plans are subject to a referendum, it is not allowed. He also said the federal Constitution gives power to draw districts to state legislatures and that power cannot be delegated to the people without an explicit allowance in law.
In their court filings, People Not Politicians is asking that the courts order the referendum to be placed on the ballot and block Hoskins from using the new districts in November.
In their filings, People Not Politicians argues that the silence in the constitution means a referendum is legal.
When Republicans were arguing that they had the power to redistrict at any time, the courts found that because the Constitution does not forbid it, lawmakers had the authority to revise the lines.
Hoskins has not filed a formal response in the case.
The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Missouri Republican State Committee filed to intervene in the case.
They want to participate, their attorney Marc Ellinger wrote, because the referendum’s “passage would undermine political and electoral interests” including diverting resources to a costly ballot measure campaign.
In the answer to the People Not Politicians’ filing, Ellinger said that it is too late to change the districts back to the ones used in 2022 and 2024.
And, he wrote, the issue is one the courts shouldn’t even consider.
“The petition raises nonjusticiable political questions,” Ellinger wrote, “that this Court has no jurisdiction to address.”
This story was originally published by the Missouri Independent.
