MAGA crashes out over Missouri gerrymander loss

After the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked Missouri from using a gerrymandered congressional map favoring the GOP during the midterms, far-right figures and election deniers had a full-blown meltdown on social media, raging against the Court’s conservative majority and effectively accusing them of supporting Democrats.

“This is why I don’t celebrate anything the Supreme Court does right,” anti-voting activist Seth Keshel said. “Just as corrupt as any other branch, and to me a very strong percentage gain for a Dem majority… Our judiciary will be the death of America at this rate.”

Thursday’s ruling is a pivotal victory for voting rights as it bars Missouri from eliminating a Democratic district in Kansas City for November’s elections. The order comes after a tumultuous week of legal ping-pong between federal and state courts over which map Missouri would use.

Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court had the final say in the matter — and it was not the one MAGA wanted. 

“Supreme Court blocks ruling allowing Missouri to use the 2025 congressional map, returning the state to the 2022 map for November. The case goes on, but this is outrageous,” far-right pundit Rich Baris said on social media. “The state already held their primaries! Never would happen to Democrats.”

Many Republicans complained that the conservative justices on the Supreme Court failed to defend the gerrymander. Thursday’s order came from Justice Brett Kavanaugh — a Trump appointee — who blocked the GOP map without explanation. 

Kavanaugh denied the matter outright in a matter of minutes. No other justices offered public dissents.

“A Republican Supreme Court intervening to side with Democrats suing to win back a free congressional seat in a state that voted for Trump by 18 points,” conservative commentator Christian Heiens wrote. “Imagine where we’d be today if we didn’t constantly sabotage ourselves in the name of abstract legal procedures that the other side doesn’t give a damn about.”

It’s not the first time MAGA has raged against Kavanaugh for not weighing in on state voting issues. Last week, the justice denied a right-wing group’s request to force Michigan to place a proposed proof-of-citizenship measure on the November ballot.

“Kavanaugh’s denial is not ‘officially’ a ruling against citizens-only voting — but it does send a troubling message: even with months of delay and a looming deadline, the Court did not view the matter as urgent enough to intervene,” the anti-voting group True the Vote said. “Unbelievable.”

And Patrick Colbeck, a former Michigan lawmaker and anti-voting activist, said Kavanaugh “failed the citizens of Michigan.”

Still, Kavanaugh’s decision not to intervene in Missouri hands Republicans a major loss of national significance. 

Missouri was one of the states President Donald Trump ordered to redraw congressional lines to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House in the midterm elections. 

But pro-voting groups fought back with a successful petition to hold a statewide referendum on the new map. That should have prevented Missouri from using the map until voters could weigh in.

But Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) wouldn’t accept that outcome. He said the map was already in effect and tried to block the referendum vote from appearing on the November ballot. 

Earlier this week, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the new map from being used, ruling that voters must first weigh in. But then, hours later, a federal judge ruled that Missouri must use the gerrymandered map.

Facing conflicting court orders, Hoskins defied the state Supreme Court’s mandate and tried to force local election officials to use the GOP gerrymander, only to face possible contempt of court.

After the Supreme Court’s order Thursday, Hoskins finally folded.

“Following the United States Supreme Court’s stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri Supreme Court,” he said in a statement. “In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”