US Supreme Court rejects Missouri bid to reactivate GOP-backed voting map

The United States Supreme Court has declined to reinstate a Republican-backed congressional map in Missouri, leaving in place an older map for November’s midterm elections.

On Tuesday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from Missouri, rejected the state’s request to put the new map into effect. He did not refer the case to the full nine-member court nor explain his decision.

The decision is a setback for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which had backed the redistricting effort as part of a broader push to improve their electoral chances.

The new Republican-backed map would have given the party a better chance of winning an extra seat in the US House of Representatives by carving up Missouri’s Democratic-leaning 5th congressional district.

In the hours after Justice Kavanaugh’s decision, a federal court in Missouri temporarily blocked the older congressional map from being used.

That decision by US District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, requires Missouri to use the new Republican-backed map for the November midterms.

His order will remain in effect for 14 days while courts consider the dispute. Opponents of the new map have already filed an appeal.

Tuesday’s contrasting court decisions are likely to boost confusion in Missouri, with less than two months to go before the midterm race.