In a case drawing national attention as ballots go out for the midterms, the Supreme Court blocks Missouri map that Republicans hoped would add another GOP seat in the U.S. House.
This marks the third time the high court has halted the redistricting plan, which opponents said could weaken Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by boosting Republican voters in his district.
The justices warned that changing district lines now would cause electoral chaos. The ruling requires Missouri to use the same congressional boundaries employed in 2022 and 2024, even though a different map was used in last month’s primaries.
Election offices have already begun mailing some absentee ballots using the existing districts, and officials argued it was too late to switch midstream. The decision follows weeks of conflicting orders from state and federal courts.
Missouri congressional map dispute reaches Supreme Court
A citizen petition makes the redistricting subject to voter approval
States typically redraw districts once a decade. The Trump-driven redistricting push ultimately tilted about nine or 10 additional districts toward the GOP nationwide, including Missouri’s 5th District, at a time when Republicans hold only a narrow majority in the House.
Opponents of the new Missouri plan gathered enough signatures to put the map on the November ballot for voter approval.
Earlier this month, the Missouri Supreme Court concluded that the ballot question meant the 2025 GOP-backed map never took effect and was not law, despite its use in the Aug. 4 primaries. The court faulted Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins for allowing the map in the primaries before voters had their say.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Friday ruling echoed that view, noting the state court had already said in May, before the primary, that the GOP map required voter approval before it could be used.
On Sept. 10, the justices declined to intervene in the state decision but let the litigation proceed. Meanwhile, Republicans sought relief in federal court and initially won support from a district judge, then from a federal appeals court last week, sending the dispute back to the Supreme Court. The justices ultimately rejected the GOP map on Friday.
Republicans argued the primary results, with more than a million Missourians voting under the contested lines, justified using the map this fall. Opponents countered that voters had not approved the plan and accused Republican officials of prolonging the fight to force it through.
The showdown over Missouri’s districts follows earlier stages of the same fight, when the Missouri congressional map heads back to U.S. Supreme Court highlighted the stakes for control of the House.
