KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A lawsuit filed in Cole County, Missouri, Circuit Court asks the court to declare House Bill 1, which redrew Missouri's congressional district maps, unconstitutional.
The lawsuit states the bill is "unconstitutional because the Missouri Constitution does not allow redistricting more than once based on the same census.''
Two of the four plaintiffs in the suit live in the Kansas City area.
Kim Randolph Davis is a resident of Congressional District 5 under the 2022 map. House Bill 1 would mean she would become a resident in House District 4.
Rebeca Amezcua, a current District 5 resident, would be moved into District 4 under the bill.
"I think political affiliation here doesn't really matter," said Alix Cossette, one of the attorneys representing four Missouri residents in the lawsuit. "Everyone in the state of Missouri should want adequate representation and is entitled to it."
She said the lawsuit's goal is to invalidate the map. The document claims the Missouri Constitution does not allow for redistricting more than once every ten years.
"If you do it any other time, it's going to be wrong," Cossette said.
The suit claims certain plaintiffs "will be combined with other voters without sufficiently similar interests and communities."
The suit states that every 10 years, the U.S Census Bureau conducts a census, where every person in the United States is counted.
Those results are used for congressional apportionment. The new congressional districts were effective May 18, 2022, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also claims the new map was drawn based on 2020 data, which is "outdated and does not correctly account for the number of people who currently reside in each congressional district as enacted by House Bill 1."
Thus, the suit asks the court to declare "House Bill 1 in violation of Article III, Section 45 of the Missouri Constitution: Enjoin the Secretary of State and the Secretary's Officers, agents, servants, employees and attorneys, and all those persons in active participation with the Secretary from using the map enacted by House Bill 1 to conduct any congressional election."
"If the governor signs a bill, which everyone expects to happen, hopefully sooner rather than later for a variety of other reasons, then it will be up to the Secretary of State to actually carry out the map or make sure that all of the local election authorities are using that map to conduct elections," Cossette said.
We tried reaching out to Secretary of State Denny Hoskins on Saturday but did not hear back.
Gov. Mike Kehoe was not available for an interview, but he posted on social media about redistricting.
"For those of you who disagree, I respect that," Kehoe said. "Decisions are hard. Leadership is hard. It's not easy doing the job your House and Senate members do, but we try to do the best we can to reflect Missourians' values."
The Kansas City, Missouri, City Council also passed a resolution that would "oppose any legislative efforts to redistrict Kansas City out of the purview of the post-decennial census, including but not limited to HB 1 'Composition of Congressional Districts' and HB 2 'Composition of Congressional Districts.'"
We also reached out to several other local Republican lawmakers to hear their thoughts on the lawsuit. We either did not hear back or they were unavailable for comment.
But over the past weeks, we have been amplifying their voices.
"This is all politics, and I think we did the right thing," said Sen. Mike Cierpiot.
"I believe it's a Missouri-first map. It is a map that will match the values of Missourians," said Sen. Brad Hudson.
On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Mark Alford talked redistricting with KSHB.
"No matter where these lines are drawn, whether it's to the river, over to 71 Highway, taking in Lee's Summit, to me it doesn't matter," Alford said. "I will give the same level of service. I will be in the neighborhoods; I will be in the businesses."
In addition, the resolution states the city attorney is authorized "to take any legal actions he determines appropriate to avail the rights of Kansas City and its residents in opposing efforts to redistrict Kansas City."
Charlie Keegan, KSHB 41's political reporter, who covered every minute of the recent special session on the congressional redistricting bill, said the Jackson County Legislature adopted a similar measure Monday.
Ordinance 6017 "authorizes the Jackson County Counselor's Office to pursue litigation or other legal strategies on behalf of the Jackson County Legislature in the event that redistricting of the 5th Congressional District occurs, for the purpose of opposing such redistricting."
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