WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday barred Missouri from using a Republican-drawn congressional map for the November midterm elections, ordering the state to use its 2022 districts in the high court’s third rejection this month of the Trump-backed redistricting plan.
In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices halted a federal appeals court ruling that would have revived the 2025 map, writing that “at this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos.” Ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed, and absentee, military and overseas voting has already begun, the court noted.
Missouri lawmakers adopted the new map last year at President Donald Trump’s urging, part of a national push by Republicans to redraw House districts mid-decade to protect their House majority. The plan dismantled a Kansas City-based district held by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, adding Republican-leaning voters in an effort to pick up a seventh Missouri seat.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 3 that the map could not take effect without a voter referendum triggered by a citizen petition, though the new lines had already been used in the Aug. 4 primary. A federal district judge and then the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the 2025 map, setting up the latest showdown in a legal saga that has bounced through state and federal courts for weeks.
Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe said Missouri would follow the order, while Cleaver said his “reelection prospects shot up significantly” after the ruling. The case affected a single seat but spotlighted the interplay of state and federal courts heading into the pivotal midterms.