Folks, I almost spilled my coffee reading this one. A federal appeals court just ruled that Missouri has to use a GOP-friendly congressional redistricting plan for the upcoming election, but with a twist – the ruling is on hold for a week to give the Supreme Court a chance to review it. Because, you know, things weren’t complicated enough already. The US 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decided that the current map, which was adopted by the legislature last year, has to be used, despite the Missouri Supreme Court previously saying it couldn’t be used due to a referendum challenge.
The Missouri Supreme Court had ordered election officials to use an older map, but the 8th Circuit Court said that would violate the US Constitution. I mean, who doesn’t love a good game of constitutional ping-pong? The court relied on estimates from a conservative group to conclude that over 1.4 million Missourians might not be able to vote for the congressional district nominees on their ballot, and more than a quarter-million Missourians who voted in the primary election cast a vote for a candidate who now can’t represent them. Yeah, that’s not confusing at all.
The new map targeted the 5th Congressional District, held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, by breaking up its Kansas City base and stretching it into rural and Republican-leaning parts of the state. Bless their hearts, the Republicans really know how to make things interesting. The group that launched the referendum campaign against the GOP-leaning map noted that ballots have already been printed and Missourians have already voted, so maybe it’s time to stop wasting taxpayers’ money on legal action and focus on administering the elections.
Somewhere in Atlanta, a producer thought this sounded terrifying, and now we’ve got a related article about a federal judge ordering Missouri to proceed with the GOP-friendly map after the Supreme Court balked. I’m starting to think that the people in charge of redistricting should just draw a map, close their eyes, and hope for the best. The statement from People Not Politicians said that officials should stop wasting taxpayers’ money on pointless legal action and instead focus on administering the elections. Sounds like a plan to me.
In conclusion, the redistricting saga in Missouri continues to be a hot mess, with the federal appeals court ruling that the state must use a GOP-friendly map, but putting it on hold for now. I’m sure this will all get sorted out eventually, but until then, I’ll just be over here, sipping my coffee and enjoying the show. And who knows, maybe someday we’ll have a redistricting process that doesn’t involve constant legal battles and confusion – but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
Armchair patriot. Believes in the free market, cold beer, and that there’s always a guy named George behind every CNN segment.
Former remote-throwing champion turned #1 couch commentator on liberal panic in the media. Born in Texas (or so his mug says), he earned a degree in Fake Newsology & Beer Philosophy from YouTube University.
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