Supreme Court blocks Missouri map for the November election, with the justices halting use of a GOP-leaning congressional plan and ordering the state to proceed under its 2022 districts to avoid voter confusion.
In a brief per curiam opinion issued Friday, the high court barred Missouri from using newly drawn Republican-friendly congressional lines in the midterms. The ruling faulted the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for reviving the disputed map despite two earlier Supreme Court orders in the same litigation.
The justices said the appeals court erred by allowing the new districts after voting had already begun. “Given this court’s two prior orders in this litigation, our conclusion that this was error should come as no surprise,” the opinion stated.
Supreme Court blocks Missouri map after emergency plea
The decision came in response to an emergency application filed late Tuesday by organizers who had advanced a statewide referendum to pause the new map. They asked the justices to reverse the Eighth Circuit’s order that had reinstated the partisan plan. The applicants argued the lower court’s move risked disenfranchising voters and upending an election already underway.
Led by Richard von Glahn, the organizers asked the court to clarify whether its prior order precluded the Eighth Circuit’s action. Absent clarity, they urged the justices to block the appellate ruling to prevent further disruption.
Even setting aside its earlier stays, the Supreme Court admonished the Eighth Circuit for injecting uncertainty into Missouri’s election process. The opinion noted that shifting to the 2025 map in the midst of active voting would usher in electoral chaos.
Absentee voting under the 2022 congressional map began Tuesday. The organizers warned that leaving the Eighth Circuit ruling in place would create confusion over ballots already cast, potentially forcing some voters to vote again under different lines or, worse, preventing them from voting in November.
Background on Missouri’s disputed congressional lines and Supreme Court
After calls from former President Donald Trump for nationwide redistricting to safeguard Republican control in the U.S. House, Missouri lawmakers approved a map expected to give the GOP seven of the state’s eight congressional seats. Opponents gathered more than 300,000 signatures to put the map on the ballot for voter approval.
Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the petitions, arguing the state constitution does not permit referendums on congressional redistricting. He prevailed in a lower court, but the Missouri Supreme Court reversed, ruling the referendum suspended the new districts retroactive to December and directing that the 2022 map be used for the general election, even though the new lines were used in the August primary.
State officials sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court just days before ballot deadlines. Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied that request earlier this month, leaving the Missouri Supreme Court’s directive intact. A lower federal court then reinstated the GOP-favored map, prompting a second emergency plea. The full Supreme Court granted that appeal, blocking use of the new lines for November.
The Eighth Circuit later converted the previously stayed temporary injunction into a permanent injunction, again reviving the contested districts. Organizers argued that step violated the Supreme Court’s prior order, which kept the temporary injunction on hold through the resolution of the Eighth Circuit appeal and any petition for certiorari.
In Friday’s order, the Supreme Court appeared intent on ending the back-and-forth ahead of Election Day. The court directed the lower courts not to enjoin or otherwise block use of the 2022 map for Missouri’s 2026 congressional election and not to require the state to use the 2025 map for that contest.
For Hawaiʻi readers tracking national redistricting battles, the ruling underscores how the Supreme Court is prioritizing election stability once voting has started, a factor that can shape outcomes far beyond the mainland states where these fights are playing out. That focus on how the high court handles election disputes echoes issues raised when the US Chamber of Commerce sues Hawaii over Act 11 election law and similar challenges closer to home.
