Missouri election chief asks federal judge to shield him from contempt charges after defying state supreme court

Missouri’s top election official asked a federal district court to shield him from a state supreme court order that he explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for telling local officials to use a gerrymandered election map* the justices explicitly blocked.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ (R) last-minute request injects even more chaos into an election process he has spent the last year attempting to undermine in order to deliver the gerrymandered map President Donald Trump demanded.

The Missouri Supreme Court scheduled a contempt hearing for Thursday morning, with Hoskins ordered to appear in person. 

Hoskins spent the past year taking photos with a baseball bat and trying to thwart voters’ efforts to put the new congressional gerrymander to a statewide veto referendum, repeatedly insisting voters did not have the right to veto a congressional map. But in a unanimous ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court concluded that the new map never took effect legally and cannot be used unless voters approve the map in a referendum election.

The GOP gerrymander dismantles a Kansas City district currently represented by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) as part of a national redistricting push to secure more congressional seats for Republicans. 

Hoskins went on to obey part of the order — he officially certified the redistricting referendum to appear on the November ballot, after he previously rejected it. 

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the map battle Tuesday, a Missouri federal district court judge barred the state from using any congressional map this year other than the new GOP gerrymander. That ruling has been appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. 

“Unless and until the District Court or a higher court issues a stay, the Secretary cannot disregard that order. Otherwise, he would be exposed to contempt proceedings in federal court,” Hoskins argued in a response to the state supreme court.

Seizing on that district court ruling, Hoskins swiftly moved to instruct local election officials to defy the state Supreme Court’s unanimous order and move forward with using the new map. Faced with imminent state deadlines to finalize and print the ballots, local officials now have conflicting marching orders. 

Opponents of the gerrymander asked the Missouri Supreme Court to hold Hoskins in contempt. Chief Justice Brent Powell quickly ordered Hoskins to file a response explaining why he believes his guidance to local officials is not “an affirmative violation of this Court’s injunction.” 

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents pro-voting parties in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.