The US Supreme Court has rebuffed an appeal from Missouri officials who wanted to use new congressional districts backed by President Donald Trump in the November election, a defeat for Republicans who had hoped the new map could help them hold onto their slim House majority.
The justices on Tuesday let stand a decision by Missouri's top court, which said the new districts were automatically suspended by a citizen petition demanding a statewide vote.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri's emergency request to suspend a state Supreme Court ruling that blocked the map, a decision that preserves the Kansas City-based seat of longtime Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver, whose district would have been dismantled under the redrawn boundaries.
Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from Missouri and several other states, did not refer the matter to the nine-member court before issuing the decision.
The ruling on Tuesday marks a rare setback for Republicans in a nationwide redistricting battle that Trump urged Republicans to launch last year.
Redistricting race
While both Republican- and Democratic-controlled states drew new maps as part of an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting war, Republicans eventually emerged as the winners.
Republicans improved their chances in 16 districts, including Cleaver's seat in Missouri, while Democrats secured an edge in six districts.
The effort repeatedly drew the US Supreme Court into disputes over congressional redistricting.
A major Supreme Court ruling limiting the reach of the landmark Voting Rights Act and subsequent actions by the court permitted several conservative Southern states to eliminate districts with significant Black populations.
The challenge in Missouri began after a group formed to oppose the new map, People Not Politicians, collected enough signatures to file for a referendum under a provision in the state constitution that authorises a ballot measure to approve any legislative act.
Missouri's Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, the state's top election official, rejected the petition, finding that the state constitution does not apply to congressional redistricting.
The Missouri court dismissed that argument. "The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise," Judge Ginger Gooch wrote for the court. The redrawn map "will not go into effect unless and until approved by voters," Gooch said.
