Judge Lets Missouri Contempt Hearing Proceed in Redistricting Fight

A federal judge has cleared the way for Missouri's highest court to hold a contempt hearing Thursday for Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, the latest turn in a tangled legal dispute over which congressional map will govern the November election.

The case centers on a redistricting plan backed by President Donald Trump. Missouri's Supreme Court had earlier directed Hoskins not to use the Trump-supported map in the general election. That order was upended on Tuesday when U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark barred Hoskins from using any map other than the one the president supports.

In response, the state Supreme Court ordered Hoskins to appear before it Thursday to answer for failing to comply with its directives.

Attorneys for Hoskins asked Clark to put the contempt hearing on hold. The judge declined, leaving the state proceedings free to move ahead.

The competing rulings have left Missouri's election machinery caught between a state court that has told the secretary of state to keep the Trump-backed map out of the general election and a federal court that has told him to use nothing else.