The Supreme Court Deals Trump Crushing Blow Ahead of Midterms

Justice Kavanaugh refused to override a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that killed Trump’s midterm redistricting play.

For once, we’ve come back from a long holiday weekend and didn’t have to contend with calamitous news from the US Supreme Court. Today, Justice Kavanaugh dealt a major blow to Trump and Missouri Republicans by refusing to overturn a state Supreme Court’s decision blocking the new Trump-backed 7-1 map, leaving in place the old 6-2 map. The move keeps intact Democratic Rep. Cleaver’s safe Democratic seat, which would have almost assuredly flipped from blue to red. Not only is this a setback for the party, it’s an embarrassing loss for Trump, who pushed Republicans to engage in this redistricting battle in the first place.

This was part of a push that’s been going on for months amid Trump’s decree that Republicans needed to go on a redistricting rampage to salvage a midterm election he knows he’s going to lose. But the strategy isn’t holding. The map was blocked by both the Missouri Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court: both firmly rightwing institutions. That suggests that Trump and his lackeys have gone so far off the rails in their desperation to hang on to a majority that’s all but lost, they can’t even convince their own side to support it.

So how did we get here? This gerrymandered map came as a result of a special legislative session Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe called in immediate response to Trump’s demand to find seats to which he felt he was “entitled.” But even with the deck stacked against them, Trump’s opponents organized. An organization called People Not Politicians gathered over 300,000 signatures on a petition to force this gerrymandered map to a statewide vote. Missouri’s Republican Secretary of State then sat on that petition until the day of the primary election before rejecting it in a transparent effort to run out the clock. It didn’t work.

The move pissed off the state Supreme Court, who said that the petition was legit, and the new map couldn’t go into effect without a vote from the people of Missouri. And Justice Kavanaugh basically said, what they said.

This whole episode tells me a couple of things.

First, Trump is acutely aware of the writing on the wall and Republicans are trembling right behind him. They’re acting out of fear and taking desperate (not to mention illegal) swings as a result. Case in point, this gerrymandering effort so egregious, even members of their own party couldn’t sanction it.

And second, regular people have agency— and they’re using it. The whole reason we’re talking about this story is because 300,000 regular Missourians organized to defeat something they knew was wrong. That should send a message to everyone, everywhere - and not least of all deep red states like Missouri - that we have power. It’s telling that it wasn’t Democrats in the state legislature, or federal courts in a vacuum that made this happen; 300,000 Missourians did.

The great irony here is that Trump did this to himself. He wouldn’t have to issue these ridiculous commands to essentially rig these elections if he hadn’t failed so spectacularly at delivering on any of his campaign promises. If he had just done the job he said he would, he wouldn’t have to work overtime to try to keep it. But of course, that would require Donald Trump caring about anyone not named Donald Trump.

As we head toward the midterms, this is what gives me hope. And it’s what should inspire you to know that real change is within reach. Americans are paying attention, getting organized, and mounting an offensive that’s already started to work. And we won’t let up any time soon.