Fight over Trump-backed congressional map returns to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court is deciding once again whether Missouri must use a congressional map drawn at President Donald Trump’s urging to give Republicans an additional seat in the upcoming midterms.

The case made its third trip to the high court in recent weeks, in an emergency appeal filed late Sept. 22 by opponents of the map.

The group, People Not Politicians, asked the court to block a lower court’s ruling that the map go into effect. That ruling by a federal appeals court in Missouri was issued despite the fact that ballots are already being distributed under a different map that the Supreme Court has twice said should be used in November.

"A lower court cannot demand the same relief this Court has stayed by cloaking it in a new order," the group told the justices in its appeal.

The Trump-backed map would turn a seat held by Democrats into one that Republicans are expected to win, helping Republicans hold onto their slim majority in the House.

The legal battle stems from Trump pushing red states to rejigger maps midway through the normal redistricting cycle.

The map approved by the Missouri Legislature last year breaks up a Democratic-held…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/