BY: RUDI KELLER
Missouri Independent
Hoskins purged the contempt Thursday by reversing his directive to local election officials and telling them to use the congressional districts from 2022
The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for directing local election officials to use an illegal congressional map, but ultimately ruled he remedied the contempt by reversing his directive.
The unusual proceedings Thursday were the first of their kind in living memory. The judges brought a statewide elected official in to answer for his actions that violated the court’s orders.
The court brought Hoskins in twice: In the morning to hear arguments on whether it should find him in contempt, and in the afternoon to find out what he had done in response.
Chief Justice W. Brent Powell delivered the verdict at the end of the afternoon hearing, finding that “the secretary was in contempt of its Sept. 3, 2026, order, enjoining him from the implementation, utilization, and mandating of the of the use of the congressional district districting map (passed in 2025) for the November 2026 general election.”
By sending out an email Thursday afternoon to local election officials, and a public statement that the map drawn in 2022 would be used for this year’s elections, Powell said “the secretary has therefore purged himself of said contempt.”
The ruling comes just two days shy of the anniversary of a state Senate vote that passed a redistricting map intended to tilt this year’s congressional election in the 5th District to Republicans. That vote triggered the events that brought Hoskins before the court on Thursday.
Missourians will see a referendum on the map as Proposition A on the Nov. 3 ballot, where a “yes” vote will be to keep the map and a “no” vote will be to reject it. And the election will be held in the districts previously used, which is expected to return six Republicans and two Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The question was finally settled, after a week of contradictory state and federal court orders, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday shut down any chance Republicans had of grabbing the prize they fought all year to obtain.
After the second state Supreme Court hearing, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway was asked whether any path exists for Republicans to revive the plan.
“As I stand here today, no,” she replied.
Thursday’s hearings
The afternoon hearing of the Supreme Court was brief.
William Seidleck of the attorney general’s office told the seven judges that Hoskins had complied with their order.
Chuck Hatfield, attorney for People Not Politicians, informed the court that the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has set a hearing for Sept. 17 in a case brought by U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, state Sen. Rick Brattin, and two voters that created a week of confusion about the map and led to Hoskins’ appearance on contempt charges.
The Eighth Circuit is unlikely to reinstate the federal restraining order, Hatfield said, because of Kavanaugh’s stay on Thursday morning.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Brattin, the GOP nominee in the targeted 5th District, held out hope the Eighth District would change the map again. The court “sent a signal about the importance of clearing up this confusion by scheduling arguments on the case for the coming week.”
And, finally, there was enough time for Powell to deliver the oral version of the verdict.
Later, in the written version, Powell emphasized that U.S. Chief Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri, issued the temporary restraining order, good for 14 days, directing Hoskins not to use any congressional district map other than the one passed in 2025. The state Supreme Court order directed him to use the map from the previous elections.
Hoskins seized on the federal order and told local election officials it took precedence over the state Supreme Court order.
That was the wrong choice, Powell wrote.
The federal restraining order was a directive not to do something, he wrote. The state Supreme Court order was a directive to do something, he added.
“The secretary offers no explanation as to why he could not comply with both this court’s order and the federal district court’s temporary restraining order by simply telling the local election authorities to take no action until further clarification was received from the courts,” Powell wrote.
During the morning hearing, Powell told Seidleck that Hoskins created “a precarious position” for Missouri.
“I’m just trying to figure out what the long game is here,” Powell said. “I’m concerned about what happens after a general election when we were using maps that aren’t law.”
And Judge Paul Wilson warned that he wanted to see the action Hoskins took before returning to court.
“I don’t want to wake up tomorrow and read that the position of the secretary is that he can do nothing because the Sep. 8 deadline (for changes to ballots) has passed,” Wilson said. “The obligation to act occurred when we handed down (the referendum decision), and it’s never not been the law in the state of Missouri.”
When the hearing began, the U.S. Supreme Court had just issued a stay in the case brought by Onder. When asked what Hoskins would do, Seidleck was non-committal.
“He is aware, of course, of the U.S. Supreme Court stay, which removes any barrier to his complying with this court’s injunction, and next steps are being evaluated,” Seidleck said.
Hatfield had, in his opening statement Thursday morning, said he was told in a brief pre-hearing conversation that Hoskins would take action and that would allow time to consider the need for a contempt finding. When he heard Seidleck sidestep the question, Hatfield said, he decided to ask the court for an immediate finding.
“I thought we were all going to agree to be adults here today, and do what the law required,” Hatfield said.
Soon after the court recessed, Hoskins issued a statement of surrender, telling local election officials to use the older map.
“Following the United States Supreme Court’s stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri Supreme Court,” Hoskins said. “In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.”
Hanaway issued a statement that said her office agreed with Hoskins actions and would follow the state Supreme Court order.
“We respect and will continue to comply with all court decisions, including orders issued by the Supreme Court of Missouri,” Hanaway said.
Aftermath
At a news conference following the afternoon hearing, Hoskins tried to explain his actions.
“This has been a very fluid situation, and I’ve complied with every court order that has been sent out to me at that point in time,” Hoskins said.
Hoskins has been fully in support of the gerrymandered map and did everything in his power to keep the referendum off the ballot and the lines in place that favor Republicans. When the Missouri Supreme Court issued its order to use the previous map, he called it “a constitutional crisis.
On Thursday, he said he acted on the federal ruling upholding the 2025 map because it was the latest decision and the deadline for finalizing the ballot had been reached.
“I made that decision based on the information that I had and the most recent court ruling that I had at the time, which was from Judge Clark,” Hoskins said.
Hatfield, speaking to reporters, praised the perseverance of Richard von Glahn, the director of People Not Politicians, to fight the battle to the end.
He also praised the court for its ruling and for holding Hoskins to account.
“The institution of the judiciary has held tight through this whole process, and up to the Supreme Court of the United States has said that the rule of the law does apply, and that Missouri law is in effect and will be followed,” Hatfield said. “It’s really important today that the judiciary held tight against what I consider to be an attempt by Secretary of State Hoskins to alter what is the law and has always been the law.”