SCOTUS Finally Did it...

0:00Michael Popok:We got some breaking news. It only took the United States Supreme Court about 13 minutes to decide on the issue of whether Missouri is going to be required to use a 2022 map favorable to the Democrats or a 2025 congressional map favorable to the Republicans. The Republican Secretary of State Danny Hoskins missed his filing deadline ordered by the Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh by a few minutes. But then about 12 or 13 minutes later, they had seen enough. And without dissent, the United States Supreme Court has effectively ordered that Missouri, in nine days when they mail out their ballots, that it reflect the congressional districts in 2022's map, not in 2025's map.

0:43Michael Popok:Why is the fight on here? Why did people, not politicians, bring this case? Why did they go out and get 300 ,000 or more signatures of Missourians to put the issue of the maps on the ballot? Because the new map created at the behest of Donald Trump has a seven to one Republican advantage. The old map would have had at least one more Democratic seat, if not two. And that's the one that has to be used now with that new decision by the Supreme Court. It's only a paragraph long, but I want you to understand the timing of this. OK, the Missouri Supreme Court, 7-0, which has five Republicans on it, had already ruled that the 2022 maps had to be used and issued an injunction.

1:27Michael Popok:They granted the injunction in favor of the suit brought by the people, not politicians. And then Danny Haskins, the Secretary of State, didn't like that, didn't like the argument that the highest court in Missouri made, its ruling that it made, that any act of the legislature under the Constitution of Missouri, any act, can be challenged by the people put on for referendum for a vote yes or no and a ballot initiative if there's 300 ,000 or more signatures. And when they try to deliver those signatures to Danny Haskins, here's what he had to say about it when he rejected it. Play the clip. Well, because it's it's a moot point.

2:12Both both the referendum as well as IP 2026-16 have been ruled unconstitutional. So, again, it doesn't matter if there's one signature or 500 million signatures. They're unconstitutional, according to Missouri state constitution. What gives you the authority to make this decision, though, to determine that it's unconstitutional instead of to just determine whether or not there are enough valid signatures? What gives you this authority? Well, what gives me this authority is when I was elected as secretary of state, I took an oath to follow the Missouri Constitution. And that oath means a lot to me.

2:46And so I'm going to continue to follow Missouri state law. I'm going to continue to follow the Missouri Constitution. I know some folks out there will be mad that I am following state law in the Missouri Constitution. And I've told here's what I tell them. Contact your state rep, contact your state senator and ask them to change state law. Our legislature is the one who makes laws as secretary of state. I just administer the law. And that's what I'm doing.

3:09Michael Popok:But the group didn't stop after they got the Missouri Supreme Court 7-0 vote. So Danny Haskins ran off to federal court and got a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump to enter in order, Judge Clark in St. Louis, to enter in order effectively in a separate case which said that the 2025 map had to be used. Then Danny Haskins got called in by the Missouri Supreme Court, and that hearing happened today for 45 minutes, to answer charges made by the chief judge of the Missouri Supreme Court that he was in contempt because he violated the court's order by instructing state election workers to use the 2025 map, not the 2022 map.

3:58Michael Popok:He got called on the carpet today about being found in contempt of court. The Supreme Court Missouri has not yet ruled. So Haskins ran back to the federal judge and said, save me, I'm about to be found in contempt in state court in Missouri. In the meantime, federal judge had effectively violated the order of Associate Justice Kavanaugh, who sits over the Eighth Circuit, which includes Missouri, because he had already ruled in favor of the Missouri State Supreme Court ruling to use the 2022 map. The federal judge says, well, I understand that that's Justice Kavanaugh's view, but I'm going to find irreparable harm and issue an injunction and force the use of the 2025 map.

4:41Michael Popok:That then went up to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on an emergency stay or block. And a three-judge panel dominated by two Trumpers actually voted not to block the judge's ruling. Not to block the ruling of this federal judge. If you're lucky enough to have a cat, you know they can be incredibly picky about food. My cat Chanel, she definitely knows what she likes. That's why Small's is such an easy upgrade. Small's Fresh Cat Food is protein pack recipes made with preservative-free 100 % human-grade ingredients you'd find in your fridge. And it's delivered right to your door. After switching to Small's, 88 % of cat owners reported overall health improvements.

5:30Michael Popok:And you can try Small's risk-free. They'll refund you if your cat won't eat their food. So stop serving your little carnivore a bowl of processed shortcuts for a limited time because you're a Legal AF listener. Get 60 % off your first order plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com slash Legal AF. That's 60 % off your first order plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com slash Legal AF. So as of a moment yesterday, the Eighth Circuit was reinforcing the ruling by the federal judge to use the 2025 map, which led people, not politicians, to run back to the United States Supreme Court and Justice Kavanaugh to block the district court judge's order, ordering the use of the 2025 map to go back to the 2022 map.

6:32Michael Popok:and get those Democratic seats picked up. Justice Kavanaugh gave the state until 10 a.m. today. This is today, today, Thursday, to file their response. And Denny Haskins was late. He showed up. His brief didn't come in at 10 o 'clock. It came in about 10.03. And by 10.16, the Supreme Court ruled against him and ruled in favor of the Missouri State Supreme Court. Here's what they said in their order, which I'll read to you. Application for stay presented to Justice Kavanaugh and by him referred to the court is granted. The September 8th, 2026 order entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri is stayed, pending the disposition of the appeal in the in the Eighth Circuit and disposition of a petition for writ of certiorari in this court, if such timely writ is sought.

7:31Michael Popok:If such certiorari is denied, the stay will terminate automatically. What does that mean? That means that the Supreme Court wants the issue to go through the Eighth Circuit on full briefing, which they're not going to be able to do in nine days, given the time for the ballots to go out. And so this issue will come back up to the United States Supreme Court after the midterms, after the Eighth Circuit rules on full briefing, but not now. Now it's going to be the 2022 map, which gives at least one, if not two more Democratic seats for pickup and has fired up the people of Missouri to campaign against MAGA in Missouri.

8:21Michael Popok:If they weren't motivated before with protests in the streets, they're certainly motivated now. Here's a clip of some protests.

8:33There are protests outside the Missouri Supreme Court as inside justices are weighing a couple of important questions that will impact your November election. Hi, I'm Hannah Falcon. I was in the Missouri Supreme Court today and outside talking with protesters. So here's what's going on. First, they're considering whether a ballot question that if passed would make it harder for lawmakers to amend laws passed by Missouri voters should be on the November ballot after the petition was rejected by the Secretary of State, who says it goes against the state's constitution. Another petition that was rejected by the Secretary of State would put the congressional map up for a vote.

9:11If you remember last year, lawmakers redrew the congressional map to favor sending more Republicans to Washington, D.C. Well, this petition wants you, the voters, to get the final say on which map we use. Lastly, there's a question of which map will be used for the November election. In August, for the primary, we used the new map drawn by lawmakers. But the petitioners say that that map never should have gone into effect because they turned in this petition to pause it. The court has a tight deadline of September 8th to make a final decision on these cases. That's when your local election authority starts printing out your ballot for the November election.

9:49So as of right now, while the secretary of state for Missouri may try to run back to the Eighth Circuit on some sort of expedited briefing in order to get clear direction by the ninth, the Supreme Court now twice has told Missouri, use your damn 2022

10:05Michael Popok:maps and stop coming back to us effectively. I'm covering it all right here. I might as touch in Legal AF. Take a minute, hit that free subscribe button as we continue to grow our pro-democracy channel. and all the filings in the case are up on Legal AF Substack. Another great thing for you to join under Filings AF. Until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF? Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF Substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the Substack. You'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF.

10:45Michael Popok:What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes. Where? Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.