Federal and state courts in Missouri are at odds over which congressional map the Show-Me State will use for the November election, creating a legal mess that could cost Republicans a seat in the House of Representatives.
The dispute is over whether a map drawn by the state legislature in 2022 or a map drawn in 2025 will be used for the midterm elections, even though the 2025 map was used for the August primaries. The 2022 map, used for the 2022 and 2024 elections, has produced a 6-2 Republican-Democratic split for Missouri’s congressional delegation, while the map passed by state lawmakers in 2025 would likely shift the delegation to a 7-1 Republican-Democratic split.
In Missouri, citizens may gather signatures to place a passed piece of legislation on the ballot for a referendum, but before the vote is held, the law’s enactment is suspended. Legal battles over whether a left-wing group had properly gathered signatures to put the 2025 congressional map up for a vote made their way to the Missouri Supreme Court, which determined that the referendum would be placed on the November ballot and that the law passing the 2025 map would be suspended pending that vote. Since that ruling, there have been subsequent rulings and actions from other courts that have muddied the question of which map will be used for the election in less than two months across the state’s eight congressional districts.
What the Missouri Supreme Court ruled, and the US Supreme Court declined to do
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the referendum over the 2025 map had qualified and ordered that the 2022 map be used for the November elections. The decision, which wiped away Republicans’ expected net gain in the state’s congressional delegation this year, was met with outrage by the GOP, which alleged that the decision unlawfully disenfranchised primary voters and would lead to a “federal-election-administration disaster.”
The ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court’s emergency docket late last week, asking the high court to allow the 2025 map to be used as deadlines quickly approach for the election. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the justice responsible for emergency petitions from Missouri, declined to block the state Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday, declining to elaborate on the decision in a brief order.
What a federal court ruled in a different lawsuit
While the emergency appeal of the state court ruling was denied, a federal district judge halted the use of the 2022 map in a different lawsuit filed after the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling last week.
The temporary restraining order issued by Judge Stephen Clark, an appointee of President Donald Trump, found that “preserving the status quo entails using the same map for the general election that Missouri used for its primaries,” which is the 2025 map.
“Because voters have already cast their ballots in the primaries replacing the applicable map for the general election would disenfranchise voters of their votes in the primary election, in clear violation of Article I, Section 2. Voters reassigned to different district would have cast their votes in vain for candidates now connected to other districts, effectively nullifying their votes,” Clark said, finding that using the 2022 map for the November elections would be disruptive and likely unconstitutional.
The ruling was appealed on an emergency basis to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit by the left-wing group that put the 2025 map on the ballot and that wants the 2022 map to be used in November. The federal appeals court has yet to rule on the emergency appeal.
Missouri officials took a victory lap after the ruling by the federal district court, with Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins saying they would move forward with using the 2025 map for the November election.
“The Missouri First Congressional Map stands as the Law of the Land. I promised I would never stop fighting for Missourians and I have gone to the mat on that,” Hoskins said late Tuesday, referring to the ruling.
“This victory halts a full-on constitutional crisis. It ensures the candidates Missourians nominated in the August primary election are the same candidates running in the same congressional districts they will vote on in the November general election. This is a win for Missouri—and a win for constitutional conservativism and I am proud to lead this charge,” Hoskins added.
If the Eighth Circuit declines to halt the district court’s ruling, the left-wing group could ask the Supreme Court to halt the district court’s ruling.
What the Missouri Supreme Court is now considering
While Missouri officials have celebrated the ruling in a federal district court that seemingly reinstated the 2025 map, the left-wing group filed a motion to the Missouri Supreme Court asking it to hold Missouri officials in contempt for allegedly violating the state court’s order. The Missouri Supreme Court announced late Tuesday it would hear arguments Thursday morning over whether to hold Hoskins in contempt for saying the state will use the 2025 map after the federal district court’s ruling.
While the Missouri Supreme Court said it would move forward with considering contempt for Hoskins, state officials filed a motion in the federal court case asking the judge to bar the state Supreme Court from punishing the Missouri secretary of state for following the federal court’s ruling. Missouri officials pointed to the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, holding that federal law takes precedence over state or local laws when there is a conflict.
“This Court’s order to use the HB 1 map relied on federal law. The Missouri Supreme Court relied solely on state law in ordering Secretary Hoskins to use the 2022 map. There is no actual conflict between these orders, and even if there were, this Court’s order would govern,” state officials wrote in their Wednesday motion in federal court.
SUPREME COURT DENIES BID TO REINSTATE NEW CONGRESSIONAL MAP IN MISSOURI
Which congressional map will be used for the November election?
Missouri officials have stated they intend to use the 2025 map for the November election, citing the federal court ruling, and the deadline for the state’s ballot to be finalized was on Sept. 8. Despite the deadline passing, ballots will not begin to be sent out for several days, meaning another late ruling could still prompt state officials to use the 2022 map.
A part of the lawsuit not in dispute currently is whether voters will decide to approve or veto the 2025 map. The fate of the 2025 map for the 2028 and 2030 elections will be decided by a referendum placed on the November ballot as a result of a part of the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling last week, which has not been challenged.