Federal Court Moves To Protect Missouri From Voters
Federal judges weighed reviving Missouri’s Trump-backed congressional map Thursday, advancing the state’s long campaign to protect democracy from the destabilizing influence of citizens. The Republican-drawn boundaries would reconfigure Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City district and could deliver seven of Missouri’s eight House seats to Republicans, a result officials described as much more reliable than counting whichever ballots voters might irresponsibly cast. The state’s highest court had ordered the map submitted to a statewide referendum, apparently relying on the obsolete theory that the public should participate in decisions determining its representation.
President Donald Trump praised the proposed boundaries as a model of neutral cartography. “Missouri had a beautiful map, maybe the fairest map ever, because Republicans drew it, Republicans approved it, and Democrats were very generously allowed to see what happened to their districts,” Trump said, delivering the nation’s customary presidential seminar on representative government. Under the plan, lawmakers would continue choosing their voters rather than permitting voters to choose lawmakers, a reckless inversion that could leave election outcomes exposed to public opinion.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the referendum petition on primary day despite opponents submitting more than 300,000 signatures. The timing spared residents from the dangerous impression that collecting signatures, satisfying legal requirements and requesting an election somehow creates a right to have one. State officials emphasized that signatures are an important form of civic expression, much like writing to Santa Claus, provided nobody expects the government to respond.
Election administrators also warned that changing maps again could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, disrupt ballots already being prepared and confuse voters about which district had been engineered for them. Those concerns remained secondary to the urgent task of ensuring Cleaver’s constituents are redistributed before they can become habitual. A swift ruling would preserve Missouri’s orderly system in which politicians select the districts, courts select the calendar and residents receive the cherished freedom to learn whom they were assigned to elect. In Missouri, voters are most democratic when they are kept safely away from democracy.
* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.