President Trump went after the Supreme Court on Sunday for blocking a Missouri congressional map favoring Republicans. “The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory. They continuously, three times now, overrule Judges who came to the correct decisions,”
Page A5From§Eachthe midnight edition — 28 September 2026
THIRD TIME
Missouri asks Supreme Court to let it rig its map, gets no for the third time in a row
As it ran on the front
The chief hands the crew the file the way it keeps arriving: same map, same bench, third rejection slip. On September 5, Missouri went to the Supreme Court's own docket, filing an emergency application with Justice Kavanaugh, asking the justices to overturn the state's own high court and let a new Republican-drawn map stand ahead of the November election. Missouri's lawyers called the state court's block a "federal-election-administration disaster." The justices did not see a disaster. On September 25 they blocked the map, and the unsigned ruling walked its own history: the Legislature enacted a map in 2022, enacted a new one in 2025, and now this one too gets sent back. Missouri returns to the 2022 lines for the midterms.
Two days later the president took to Truth Social and blamed the referee. "The Supreme Court of the United States will just not let Missouri have an Election Victory," he wrote. "They continuously, three times now, overrule Judges who came to the correct decisions." Same court, same week, different file: Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration would ask that same Supreme Court to intervene after a federal appeals court dissolved a stay protecting the government's rapid third-country deportation framework. The court blocking a map draws contempt. The court asked to bless deportations draws an appeal. It is the same building either way.…
…(cont) Here is where the crew gets to work, because the actual tool nobody has touched is not on the Court's desk at all. Congress holds constitutional authority over the rules for its own elections — the power to set one uniform, nonpartisan redistricting standard for every House map in the country, so no legislature gets a third or fourth attempt at a friendlier one.
The muscle wrecks the load-bearing myth first: that the Court is the villain of this particular story. It has ruled the same way three times running. The tinkerer lays the real parts on the bench — the standing constitutional authority, sitting unused, that could end the state-by-state redraw-and-reject cycle in one statute. The planner admires how simple the assembly actually is. The pilot doesn't promise the bill passes. That part's on the readers, and on the Congress that has never once picked up the tool.
“Three times the same map gets bounced and three times somebody acts surprised — that's not a broken court, that's a state legislature that keeps drawing the same rigged lines and hoping the referee blinks. Congress has had the actual fix sitting in its own toolbox this whole time — the power to just set one national rule and end the redraw carousel — and it has never once picked it up. You want to know who benefits from Congress doing nothing? Every legislature that gets a second and third shot at a friendlier map before anybody stops them.”
“Look, the president is simply pointing out that three adverse rulings in a row is statistically unusual — that's not a talking point, that's math. Did I say "the Court is biased"? I did not say that. What I'm saying is Missouri has a right to try again, and again, and — okay, hearing it back, that does sound like the definition of losing.”
Earlier in this story
- Same $994 check counted down five times by one outlet: 15 days, then 8, 3, 2, then 4 By Ruth · the early bird edition, 27 September 2026
- Promised $5,000 each if Republicans hold Congress, 750,000 Americans are removed from their health coverage By Ruth · the noon edition, 23 September 2026
- GOP senator whose vote is needed to fund $5,000 checks says he won't fund them By Lou · the coffee break edition, 21 September 2026
- Treasury is examining whether the $5,000 checks can be issued without authorization from Congress, days after the president promised them at "100 percent" if Republicans keep Congress. By Lou · the breakfast edition, 20 September 2026
The receipts
The US does not suffer from a tyrannical Supreme Court so much as an ineffective Congress that, by constitutional design, delays and obstructs rather than acts on the most pressing issues facing Americans.
Although the US Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority on Friday greenlit President Donald Trump's voter purge database, it also helped deliver yet another blow to Missouri Republicans' push for a rigged congressional map. "In 2022, the Missouri Legislature enacted a redistricting map for elections to the US House of Representatives.…
· Supreme Court denies Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for the third time from the morgue, 25 Sep 2026
· Missouri asks Supreme Court to overturn block of new congressional map before election from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Todd Blanche vows Supreme Court appeal after court blocks third-country deportations from the morgue, 24 Sep 2026
· Bessent Defends Faltering Bond Market Intervention from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Bessent says Treasury is ‘examining’ ability to cut $5,000 checks without Congress from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Bessent’s move to tamp down rising rates backfires as bond yields jump, stocks tumble from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· The bond market is revolting — and your mortgage is the first casualty from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Fiscal hawks skeptical of Bessent’s claim that US can ‘grow our way out’ of $40 trillion debt from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Bessent blasts Warren’s ‘sciolistic’ letter about yen policy from the morgue, 29 Aug 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia district attorney insinuates Trump is a ‘35-time felon,’ calling $5,000 dividend a bribe from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Soros-funded Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Thursday from the morgue, 31 Aug 2026
· Voters have a blunt message for Trump about his idea to dole out $5,000 checks from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Why Donald Trump has a Joe Biden problem from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Does Trump have a 'Biden problem' on the economy? from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump’s $5,000 dividend falls flat with GOP senators from the morgue, 15 Sep 2026
· Trump sees backlash over $5K dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump plan to raise debt limit on shaky ground from the morgue, 26 Aug 2026
· 5 things to know about Trump's $5K dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Vance strikes back at concern $5,000 Trump dividend will stoke debt: ‘Wealth will go back to the people’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Marshall backtracks on support for $5,000 Trump dividend in Kansas Senate debate from the morgue, 12 Sep 2026
· Vance and MAGA Inc. work to defend Roger Marshall in redder Kansas from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Roger Marshall Sued 700 Patients for Debts; 81 Were Arrested. Now He’s a Senator. from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Conservatives would scream ‘bloody murder’ if Democratic president offered dividend to maintain power: Guy Benson from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Will Trump's payout promises boost Republican appeal to white women? from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Republicans need a Reagan-style vision to win the battle over America's future from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Trump’s promised $5,000 ‘dividend’ checks: What to know from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump’s Reckless $5,000 ‘Dividend’ from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Republicans bet the House on Trump from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Axelrod dismisses the idea of the proposed $5000 ‘Trump dividend’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump pledges $5K 'Trump dividend' if Republicans hold onto Congress from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump says $5K dividend checks to Americans will 'happen 100 percent' from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Lawler deflects on supporting Trump's $5K dividend pledge: 'How do you pay for it?' from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· GOP rep says priority 'needs to be the military,' not $5K checks from the morgue, 13 Sep 2026
· Susan Collins calls Trump’s $5,000 dividend proposal with no cap ‘extraordinarily costly’ from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Bret Baier presses Paxton on Trump $5K dividend payment support from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Gavin Newsom calls Trump’s $5K voter payout ‘bulls—’ and a ‘desperate’ power grab from the morgue, 11 Sep 2026
· Trump pitches $5,000 checks, but only if GOP wins House and Senate from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump's $5,000 payments would reignite inflation, economists say from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Why Trump's promised $5,000 payments to Americans are unlikely to happen from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Bond yields rise modestly after Trump's dividend pledge from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· GOP leaders blindsided by Trump’s promise of $5K checks from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump promises Obamacare rebates to people in swing states from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Steve Scalise says details of $5,000 dividends would "obviously have to be worked out by Congress" from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump’s $5,000 dividend pledge divides Republicans over spending from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Many Republicans skeptical about Trump plan to tie $5,000 dividends to GOP wins from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Anger Grows Over 'Pathological Liar-in-Chief' Donald Trump's $5,000 Midterm Bribes from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Spiking Bond Yields Pay the Rich and Squeeze Everyone Else from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump-aligned group releases first midterm ads — and they’re all about him from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· The Memo: Bond market turmoil heightens midterm risks for Trump and GOP from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Trump’s Plan To Cut $5,000 Checks For Americans Not Landing With Many Midterm Convention Attendees from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Texas Democrat Gina Hinojosa backs Trump’s $5,000 dividend but rejects conditional payout from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Voters may accept Trump’s bribes, but the bond markets aren’t biting from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· In Trump's Second Term, Average US Family Forced to Spend $3,800 More on Essentials from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Why not to bank on Trump's $5,000 dividend checks happening from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump shares details on $5,000 dividend with CBS News Texas from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Some Republicans Balk at Trump’s $5,000 ‘Dividend’ Offer from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· The political risk behind Trump’s $5,000 pledge: From the Politics Desk from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Bob Cusack raises concerns over Trump’s $5,000 check proposal: ‘Deficits matter, debt matters’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Global sell-off in government bonds intensifies from the morgue, 1 Sep 2026
· Trump vs. the Bond Market from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026
· The United States House of Representatives passes the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 by 227 votes to 203. After being sent to the United States Senate for a vote, the Senate's parliamentarian found tha from the morgue, 19 Dec 2017
· The attorney general of New York announces she is suing the Donald J. Trump Foundation and its directors, President Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. (CNBC) from the morgue, 14 Jun 2018
· Trump gambles big on midterm elections with convention spotlight from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Vulnerable Republicans divided over wisdom of Trump’s midterm convention from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Republican strategist knocks Trump for not spending more on GOP candidates from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Republicans ready for 'very hasty' 'Trump-a-palooza' convention in Texas from the morgue, 30 Aug 2026
· Some Republicans are planning to skip Trump’s GOP convention from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Trump promises $5,000 ‘dividend’ for adult Americans if Republicans win midterms from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump claims $5,000 midterm dividends wouldn't need congressional approval from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump's $5,000 dividend checks would come with a major catch under GOP senator's plan from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump faces reckoning as GOP figures label $5K promise a 'socialist vote-buying scheme' from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend blindsides Congress, angers fiscal conservatives: ‘A dangerous arms race’ from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump Wants to Give Out $5,000 Checks. It Would Cost More Than $1 Trillion. from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump Promises Americans $5K Checks If GOP Wins Midterms, Raising Legal Questions from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Fox News’s Baier presses Vance on Trump’s $5K dividend promise from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Ansarallah advances on Bab al-Mandab; Trump offers to pay Americans $5,000 for midterm votes; U.S. kills 3 in Caribbean boat strike from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Trump's Republican midterm convention included $5,000 pitch and Iran war expectations from the morgue, 10 Sep 2026
· Treasury boosts debt buyback cap to $6 billion from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Treasury Plans $6 Billion in Debt Repurchases to Battle Rising Yields from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Lowest-Paying US Corporations Have Poured Over $700 Billion Into Buybacks Since 2019 from the morgue, 27 Aug 2026
· Feds to buy up to $6 billion in Treasury bonds. Here's why. from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· Treasury reveals $6B in debt buybacks, triple the normal level – but markets slump from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
· 10-year Treasury yields hit multiyear high after buyback increase from the morgue, 9 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.