Missouri’s Denny Hoskins Defied a Court Order to Rig His State’s Maps. He Should Be Held in Contempt.

Missouri’s Denny Hoskins Defied a Court Order to Rig His State’s Maps. He Should Be Held in Contempt.

WASHINGTON, DC — Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is defying a direct court order in his scramble to rig the state’s congressional maps for Republicans, and now he’s facing contempt for it. The Missouri Supreme Court ordered Hoskins late Tuesday to explain why he should not be held in contempt for violating a ruling that barred the state from using a newly drawn GOP map, one designed to wipe out one of Missouri’s two Democratic-held congressional seats. Despite that ruling, Hoskins kept directing local election officials to use the illegal map anyway, forcing the state’s highest court to order him to appear in person and answer for it.

The U.S. Supreme Court had just rejected Missouri Republicans’ last-ditch bid to revive the gerrymandered map when a federal judge turned around minutes later and ordered the state to use that very same map, setting up a head-on collision between courts. All of it just so Hoskins and his allies can steal a seat before Missouri voters get their say this November at the ballot.

“Denny Hoskins got caught red handed defying a court order to rig Missouri’s maps for his own party, and now he’s about to learn what happens when you thumb your nose at the law. No tacky MAGA fashion statement is going to talk a judge out of holding him in contempt. Missouri voters deserve to pick their own representatives, not watch Hoskins and Donald Trump’s Republicans steal a seat because they know they can’t win a fair fight,” said Abhi Rahman, Try And Stop Us Spokesperson.