Lightning Strikes Thrice

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Cite

Blackman, J. (2026, September 25). Lightning Strikes Thrice. Reason. https://reason.com/volokh/2026/09/25/lightning-strikes-thrice/

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Reason · collected 2026-09-25 · by Josh Blackman

Quick Summary

A law professor at The Volokh Conspiracy discusses a recent Supreme Court order regarding standing and procedural issues in a Missouri case, noting that five justices disagreed with the court's handling of the matter despite initial orders from Justice Kavanaugh appearing unanimous. The professor questions whether Justices Thomas and Alito supported Kavanaugh to maintain unity and highlights that this ruling will likely be cited by conservatives for years due to its clarity on Purcell principles.
Written by AI on 2026-09-25, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

A federal appeals court in Missouri ordered on September 18 that the state must use newly drawn Republican-backed congressional districts for November’s midterm elections, despite previous rulings by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Missouri Supreme Court blocking their implementation. The new map, favored by former President Donald Trump, aims to benefit Republicans by altering district boundaries and splitting existing ones. This decision follows a long-standing legal battle over redistricting in Missouri, which has seen multiple conflicting court orders affecting voter registration and ballots already printed using the old 2022 map. As a result, the case is likely headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court for a final ruling before November's elections.

Written for “Missouri Redistricting Saga” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 26 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Missouri Redistricting Saga
Politics · 27 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 23% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 0 of 25 claims Outlet record 66/100
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“The articles refer to different judicial comments and rulings by Judge Colleen McMahon and a per curiam from the Supreme Court, respectively.”
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⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 0 of 5 claims Outlet record 70/100
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⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 2 of 26 claims Outlet record 60/100
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“Article A describes the Supreme Court's order regarding Missouri's congressional map, while Article B discusses standing and unanimity issues in relation to multiple orders, not specifically the same incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
13
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
23%
3 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
67/100
Reason's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
27
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-25 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)
2026-10-02
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2026-09-26
"I Will Not Stand for Being Jerked Around … by Any Lawyer Who Practices Before Me"
2026-09-18
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2026-09-05
Lawyers' Responsibility for Hallucinations in Briefs That They Sign

Who wrote this

Josh Blackman
90 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 And Kagan spared California the fate that befell Missouri, which had to file a pointless brief that no one would read.
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🔮 Today the law firm of Weil Gotshal announced that it would wind down.
2026-10-28 · assertive framing · Farewell to Weil
🔮 And her unwillingness to participate in any disciplinary proceedings suggests something is amiss.
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🔮 Longtime readers will recall that I took mileage runs to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney to make status at the end of the year.
2026-10-28 · assertive framing · 1,000,000 Miles on United
🔮 Let's hope that people across the media industry will take Josh Blackman's criticism to heart.
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🔮 Justice Sotomayor, Justice Gorsuch, Justice Barrett, and Justice Jackson took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 90 articles by Josh Blackman →

Topics

Court Missouri

Subjects

Court ORG · 4× Kavanaugh PERSON · 2× Purcell PERSON · 2× Alito PERSON · 1× Missouri GPE · 1× Thomas PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent The sun is setting shortly and I'm on the go, so my comments about the Missouri order will be brief.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-25
🔮 Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent The sun is setting shortly and I'm on the go, so my comments about the Missouri order will be brief.
2026-09-25 · Reason
Lightning Strikes Thrice · mixed framing

Claims (13 extracted, 3 hedged)

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent The sun is setting shortly and I'm on the go, so my comments about the Missouri order will be brief. asserted
comments → set → order
First, the Court only addressed standing in a footnote. asserted
Court → address → footnote
I am still not convinced any of the parties had standing but at least 5 members of the Court disagreed, including the Court's leading proceduralist. asserted
members → convince → proceduralist
Second, the per curiam noted that Justice Kavanaugh's prior orders had no noted dissents. asserted
orders → note → dissents
I am still not convinced all three of these orders were unanimous. asserted
three → convince → orders
It may be that Justices Thomas and Alito did not think it was worth alienating Justice Kavanaugh. uncertain
it → think → Kavanaugh
The prior case had serious AISG issues. asserted
case → have → issues
The federal case did not. asserted
case → do → ?
Fourth, the Court says the merits here are unclear. uncertain
merits → say → ?
I think this concession was the price of unanimity. asserted
concession → think → unanimity
Fifth, this is an ironclad Purcell ruling that will be cited by the conservatives for years to come. asserted
that → cite → years
The conservatives may see value in having this ruling as unanimous. uncertain
conservatives → see → ruling
I think the Justices felt they had to smack down the 8th circuit here. asserted
they → think → circuit
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