Missouri voters on Tuesday gave Missouri’s Republican governor and Republican-dominated Legislature a humiliating lesson in how out of touch they are. By shockingly high margins in the 80% range, they rejected the Legislature’s proposals for two constitutional amendments.
“Missouri belongs to us,” said M’Evie Mead, who managed the Anti-4 campaign. And in this case “us” looks like it means at least 80% of us — of all races, geographies, religions and genders.
Amendment 5 would have given legislators and the governor free rein to shift the burden of taxation from the rich — who are not suffering under our current income tax — to the middle class and the poor, whose sales taxes would have to be raised a lot to keep our squalid state government in business. The billionaires, whose names were not disclosed, loved the idea. They spent millions of “dark money” to sell it. But the voters were not buying.
If Amendment 5 was the heist, as one commentator in last week’s St. Louis American put it, Amendment 4 was the getaway car. Amendment 4 would have required citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to pass by a majority in all of Missouri’s eight congressional districts.
This would not have applied to the Legislature’s proposals for constitutional changes — they would need only a simple majority. Under that scheme, most of Missouri’s citizen-initiated changes — including such things as reproductive rights and marijuana legalization — would have failed.
Even most rural voters, who supposedly hate some of the changes the initiative has brought, obviously saw that this was a bad idea. “Missouri belongs to us,” said M’Evie Mead, who managed the Anti-4 campaign. And in this case “us” looks like it means at least 80% of us — of all races, geographies, religions and genders.
The unconstitutional attack on Cleaver
The out-of-touch Missouri Legislature, at the urging of the nation’s temporary president, passed a new congressional district map aimed at ousting longtime Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City, one of the state’s two Black congressional representatives. The map divides Cleaver’s district by race and gives his district — which currently has a White majority — a supermajority of White voters that includes many rural residents. The goal is to elect a Trump-endorsed White “conservative.”
But hold on. Missouri’s Constitution provides that if a large number of voters sign a petition to let the people approve or reject the Legislature’s work, the law goes on hold until the people get a chance to vote in the general election in November. A group called “People Not Politicians” submitted a petition in December bearing the signatures of more than 300,000 Missouri voters — tens of thousands more than needed to put the new law on hold.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a former senator from the so-called Freedom Caucus, had until 5 p.m. on Aug. 4 to issue a “certificate of sufficiency” after local election authorities verified the signatures. An hour before the constitutional deadline, Secretary Hoskins announced he was refusing to issue the certificate of sufficiency.
“People Not Politicians” has filed suit, which soon will be before the Missouri Supreme Court, which in prior cases has given the public a fair reading of the Missouri Constitution by enforcing the Constitution’s explicit commands.
In this case, there is no question that enough voters have signed. Secretary Hoskins, however, says the Missouri Constitution that gives voters this power is itself unconstitutional. This time, the issue is clear: Can the Secretary of State, backed by the Trump-obedient Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, rewrite the Missouri Constitution?
The issue will soon be before the Missouri Supreme Court or the Missouri Court of Appeals. Make no mistake. The “rule of law,” which has enjoyed the support of a majority of Missouri voters, is being tested. If the courts fail this test, their legitimacy will be in doubt. This Trump era is not the time for Missouri’s courts to fail this test.