Missouri election chief held in contempt over map flipped three times in a week, cleared hours later.

…(cont) On September 8th, the U.S. Supreme Court said no — Justice Kavanaugh denied the request, leaving the state block standing. So the ruling, as of that morning, was: use the old map. Then, hours later that same day, a federal judge ordered the opposite — use the new map, for now. So the ruling, as of that afternoon, was the other one. We were, at all times, following the ruling. It just kept being a different ruling.

Which brings us to Thursday the 10th, when the Secretary of State's office told officials statewide to use the map the federal judge had authorized. This was, we maintained, simply following the ruling. It was also — and here's the part that's hard to say out loud — defiance of the state Supreme Court's own order, which the state Supreme Court noticed, and which is why it held the office in contempt that same day. So no. We were not following the ruling. We were following a ruling, and the wrong one, and got held in contempt for it before reversing course a few hours later and purging the charge.

Then, that same day, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the new map again anyway — the second time in a week — regardless of what the federal judge had ordered. Which means the map that was reinstated is, as of tonight, un-reinstated, and the office that got held in contempt for using it too early is now technically correct for not using it at all. We are following the ruling. We will let you know which one that is once it holds still.