Missouri Supreme Court Sets Contempt Hearing in Fight Over House Map

Intensifying a night of litigious chaos that spanned four courts, the fight over Missouri’s U.S. House districts has returned to the state’s Supreme Court, which signaled just before midnight Tuesday that it was considering whether to hold its top election officer in contempt.

The fight over which U.S. House districts will be used in November’s general election remained unsettled on Tuesday night after contradictory decisions from Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal district judge in St. Louis.

The State Supreme Court’s decision to call in Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for a contempt hearing, scheduled for Thursday morning, reflected a new juncture in a rising battle over what appears on Missouri ballots and over which judges’ orders should be heeded.

Mr. Hoskins and his fellow Republican officials said Tuesday night that they would keep using congressional districts redrawn last year at President Trump’s request to benefit Republicans, following the federal district judge’s order instead of the State Supreme Court’s.

“I look forward to my day in court,” Mr. Hoskins said in an overnight social media post that cited the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The redrawn boundaries were used in last month’s primary election, but they were deemed invalid last week by the Missouri Supreme Court. The court’s order said that the previous lines must be used until a referendum was held on whether to switch to the redrawn districts.