Supreme Court rejects a Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for the
third time
[September 26, 2026]
By DAVID A. LIEB
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) The Supreme Court on Friday turned away an
attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by President
Donald Trump, putting an end to a long-running legal dispute as absentee
voting is underway in the midterm elections.
The justices halted a federal appeals court ruling that would have
revived the Republican-friendly map for the November elections, which
will determine control of Congress. There were no noted dissents.
The Supreme Court instead let stand a decision by the Missouri Supreme
Court, which ruled earlier this month that a citizen petition prevents
the new map from being used unless first approved by voters in a
November referendum. The decision means Missouri residents will vote
under the same congressional districts used in the 2024 and 2022
elections.
At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of
an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos, the high court
wrote in an unsigned opinion. The District Court and Court of Appeals
should not enjoin or otherwise prohibit the use of the 2022 map in the
2026 congressional election in Missouri.
Republicans had hoped the new House map which already was used in the
August primaries could help them win an additional seat as part of a
nationwide redistricting battle pushed by Trump to gain an edge in the
midterms.
The new map had targeted a district held by longtime Democratic Rep.
Emanuel Cleaver.
I think my reelection prospects shot up significantly, a jubilant
Cleaver said after the Supreme Court ruling.
A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled Monday that
switching districts between the primary and general elections would
violate the U.S. Constitution. The panel directed a district judge to
bar Missouri from using anything other than the new map but delayed the
order's effect until next Monday to allow time for an appeal to the
Supreme Court.
Republican Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins described the high
court's decision as a disappointing blow to representative democracy,
but added, I appreciate the final clarity.
The legal wrangling has caused confusion for more than a million
potential Missouri voters nearly 1 in 4 statewide who were shifted
from one district to another, resulting in different candidates on their
ballots. Absentee voting began Tuesday under the 2022 congressional
districts. Thousands of ballots already had been mailed, and some
already have been cast.
A decision from the Supreme Court is a big sigh of relief," said Kansas
City election director Shawn Kieffer. He added, "We just want it over,
so we can do our job properly.
Republican redistricting focused on Kansas City
Republicans currently hold six of Missouri's eight House districts. At
the urging of Trump and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, Missouri lawmakers
last September passed revised districts that were intended to help them
win seven seats in the midterms.
The redistricting significantly reshaped a Kansas City-based district
held by Cleaver. It shed parts of Kansas City to neighboring districts
with Republican incumbents and stretched the remainder of Cleaver's 5th
Congressional District far eastward into rural Republican areas.
The result was about 59% of potential voters were new to the district,
according to an Associated Press estimate. The ripple effects also
shifted some voters in most of Missouri's other congressional districts.
Cleaver was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Republican state Sen.
Rick Brattin won a six-way Republican primary under the revised
districts. They remain the candidates for the general election, even
though the district boundaries have reverted to their prior lines.
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People opposed to new the U.S. House districts passed by the
Missouri General Assembly demonstrate outside the state Capitol in
Jefferson City, Mo., on March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb,
File)
Cleaver said the court ruling affirms the people's right to use to
referendum petitions against state legislative actions they don't
like.
We just received a healthy dose of encouragement that the voice of
people in the United States still matters," he said.
Brattin was a plaintiff, along with Republican Rep. Bob Onder and
two other voters, in a federal lawsuit that led to the 8th Circuit's
ruling and the last two appeals to the Supreme Court.
Brattin denounced Friday's decision as a travesty, calling the
switching of districts after the primary the most unprecedented
form of voter disenfranchisement in American history.
Missouri's redistricting prompted a big legal fight
At least 16 lawsuits have been filed in state and federal courts
related to Missouri's congressional redistricting. The battle has
been the longest and most complex among roughly a dozen states that
sought to change their U.S. House districts over the past year.
Missouri's new map survived most of the lawsuits, including ones
contending that mid-decade redistricting violated the state
constitution and that the new districts ran afoul of requirements to
be compact. In one case, the Missouri Supreme Court allowed the new
districts to be used while election officials worked to verify
petition signatures seeking to put the map to a statewide vote.
Hoskins waited until the legal deadline on Aug. 4 the day the new
districts were used in the primaries to reject the petition. He
asserted referendum petitions aren't allowed for congressional
redistricting.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the referendum
petition was valid. It ordered Hoskins not to use the new map and to
instead use the districts adopted in 2022, after the last census.
The U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand on Sept. 8. But minutes
later, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a conflicting order
in favor of the new map.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 10 blocked Clark's order from taking
effect. That day, the Missouri Supreme Court held Hoskins
temporarily in contempt for telling local election authorities to
use the new map after Clark's order.
But that wasn't the end of the matter. The 8th Circuit, hearing an
appeal of Clark's blocked order, ruled in favor of the Trump-backed
map Monday. That's what led to the latest decision from the U.S.
Supreme Court.
Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians
Missouri, said the group was pressing forward with its campaign to
persuade voters to permanently reject the new map in the November
referendum.
We have said from the beginning, people, not politicians will be
the final deciders on this DC power grab," he said in a statement.
___
Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst in Washington contributed
to this report.
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