Missouri Republicans go judge shopping to run out clock on redistricting referendum lawsuit

With the clock ticking toward a Sept. 8 deadline for Missouri courts to order changes to the November ballot, Republicans are reusing tried-and-true delay tactics in an attempt to kill a voter referendum on the GOP’s latest gerrymander. 

Missourians have fought for nearly a year to put a referendum on the November ballot that would give them a chance to veto the GOP gerrymander that dismantled Kansas City’s 5th congressional district. But that effort was thwarted this week when Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the referendum as unconstitutional.

The battle immediately shifted to a state court where Missouri Republicans are attempting to run out the clock before judges can evaluate Hoskins’ decision. Time is of the essence because Missouri courts have just one month left to order changes to the November ballot.

The case challenging Hoskins’ rejection was quickly assigned yesterday to Cole County Circuit Judge Cotton Walker and set for a Monday morning hearing. But Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, representing Hoskins’ office, immediately filed a request for a different judge. That request was granted, and Monday’s hearing has now been canceled. 

Hoskins’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why it requested the change.

But it’s the same delay strategy state Republicans used late last year while trying to thwart voters’ efforts to gather signatures for the petition. 

Missouri allows parties one automatic strike of a judge — a tool that can delay the litigation timeline by around one week. In the signatures lawsuit, Republican groups also extended timelines by intervening  and exercising their automatic strike to further delay proceedings.

During last year’s litigation over the referendum signatures, Republicans used both of these tactics.

The Put Missouri First PAC — funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee — intervened in the referendum signatures case and requested a change of judge. The case was reassigned to Walker and a new hearing set. The next day, Hoskins’ office filed its own change of judge request and the hearing was cancelled. Finally, the case was assigned to Judge Christopher Limbaugh. The procedural loophole resulted in a total delay of almost a month before a court was able to hold a trial on pro-voters’ lawsuit. 

Nearly a year after the signature case was filed, the judge still has not ruled.

Across all of the lawsuits related to the redistricting referendum, Hoskins and GOP intervenors have changed judges a total of six times. The pro-referendum side has changed judges three times.

In the current lawsuit, it remains to be seen whether a GOP group will intervene again and further delay a court’s decision.