Democrats lose challenge to Missouri’s mid-decade redistricting pushed by GOP

The Missouri Supreme Court dealt Democrats a blow Tuesday when it ruled in favor of the state’s Republican-controlled legislature’s effort to redraw the congressional map last year.

In their appeal to the court, four Missouri voters challenged the state’s enactment of mid-decade redistricting. Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) signed the state’s new map into law in September, making it more likely for Republicans to grab another House seat this year.

The state’s highest court rejected the voters’ legal challenge, determining that the legislature is not restricted from pursuing redistricting in the middle of the decade.

“The obligation to legislate congressional districts once a decade does not limit the General Assembly’s power to redistrict more frequently than once a decade,” Judge Zel Fischer wrote in the majority opinion. “Simply put, ‘when’ does not mean ‘only when.’”

The appellants who brought the challenge cited a clause in the Missouri Constitution as the basis for