Missouri Secretary of State faces contempt hearing amid redistricting fight

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) is set to appear before the state Supreme Court on Thursday as judges weigh whether to hold him in contempt amid an escalating battle over the state’s congressional map .

Late Wednesday night, a federal judge rejected the state’s request to stop the morning proceedings.

“Numerous considerations counsel this Court against enjoining a state court of last resort, particularly before it even conducts a hearing,” U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark wrote in a brief order.

“For starters, the Supreme Court of Missouri is a fellow court, and a court of a separate sovereign. And enjoining another court’s hearing is an extraordinary measure that pretermits that court’s decision—that court could deny the relief requested, or hold any ruling in abeyance pending further federal proceedings,” he added.

Missouri officials took the unusual step earlier Wednesday of asking Clark to intervene and “bar the Missouri Supreme Court’s attempt to punish Secretary Hoskins for complying with this Court’s order.”

Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office argued that the judge had authority to block the proceedings under an exception in the Anti-Injunction Act that allows federal courts to step in when necessary to “protect or effectuate” its judgements.

“Despite von Glahn’s antics, this case is not particularly complicated,” her office wrote.

“This Court — a federal court — has given Secretary Hoskins an order — under federal law — to implement the HB 1 map for the 2026 General Election. That governs over a state court order —relying only on state law — to use a different congressional map for the 2026 General Election,” the motion continued.

Richard von Glahn, who launched the initial challenge against the GOP-favored lines, asked the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday to hold Hoskins in contempt for violating a Sept. 3 order that barred the use of the new map for the November contests.

His attorneys asserted that Clark lacked jurisdiction to stop the Missouri Supreme Court’s hearing, which it cast as “fundamentally different” in scope.

“The Missouri Supreme Court ’s contempt proceeding does not relitigate anything the federal court decided,” they wrote. “The state court is not asking whether the Secretary has a right to use the HB 1 map — it is asking whether the Secretary is in contempt of the state’s highest court.”

That map would’ve created a 7-1 GOP advantage, handing the party a potential pickup opportunity in the midterms.

Republicans appealed the Missouri court’s decision to the U.S. Supreme Court , but Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined on Tuesday to intervene. His one-line order offered no explanation.

A few hours later, Clark issued a temporary restraining order in a separate lawsuit brought by Rep. Rob Onder (R-Mo.) that prohibited state election officials from using anything other than the newly drawn boundaries, saying it was necessary to avoid widespread voter confusion.

Hoskins cited that decision in a Tuesday evening email to local election officials, instructing them to move forward under the GOP-favored map. He wrote that the federal ruling “takes precedence” over the Missouri Supreme Court’s order.

Von Glahn argued that it didn’t and asked the state Supreme Court to force Hoskins to comply with its order.

“This Court should make clear that regardless of other orders (except from the United States Supreme Court) the Missouri Secretary of State must comply with this court’s injunction,” von Glahn’s attorney wrote in court filings. “The Court should instruct all local election authorities that HB 1 is not the law and has never been the law.”

Missouri Chief Justice W. Brent Howell has ordered Hoskins to appear in person on Thursday morning to explain why he should not be held in contempt.

Shortly after, Hoskins wrote on social platform X that he “look[ed] forward to my day in court.”

“Missouri is and always will be the place I call home,” the Republican wrote. “I will always fight to protect our common-sense Missouri values from a liberal Democrat Socialist and his out-of-state NYC sugar daddies.”

He added, “I will continue to abide by Judge Clark’s federal temporary restraining order on a federal congressional election.”