Dem
53
Ties
3
GOP
44
When Jason Voorhees dies at the end of the latest Friday the 13th movie, he's not really dead. The same, it would seem, is true of the new Missouri district map.
To review, the Missouri legislature adopted a new map that would almost certainly turn a 6R, 2D House delegation into 7R, 1D. A bunch of citizens signed a petition, in accordance with state law, that would put the new map on the ballot for the people to approve. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) said "no," and moved forward with the new map. Lawsuits were filed, and while lower courts, both state and federal, ruled in favor of the new map, supreme courts, both state and federal, ruled in favor of the old map (for now), finding that Hoskins was wrong in refusing to put the matter to a popular vote.
Yesterday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals waded in and found that since the state's primaries were conducted under the new map, the general election should be, as well. The Circuit Court put their ruling on hold for a week, so that the inevitable appeal to the Supremes can be made. This Court is hard to predict, but we suspect they will not be pleased, since they've already addressed the matter twice, including once with this same judge. They seem unlikely to look at this new argument and say, "We didn't think of that," especially since it was already raised before. Also, mail-in ballots, under the old map, are already en route to voters. That alone should be decisive. In any case, we'll probably find out this week, courtesy of the shadow docket. Perhaps if the two previous rulings had been made the normal way, and NOT through the shadow docket, we would not be where we are right now. (Z)