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Supreme Court May Intervene in Missouri Redistricting Dispute
Confirmed
In Short: The Supreme Court could act at any time on a case involving Missouri's Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, which is currently the subject of legal disputes.
Missouri referendum proponents made their final pitch to the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday, arguing that lower federal courts cannot sidestep the justices’ previous order halting use of the state’s Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, especially now that voting is underway.
In a reply brief, People Not Politicians and executive director Richard von Glahn accused Missouri officials and Republican candidates of largely ignoring their central argument: The Supreme Court’s Sept. 10 stay grants “in every meaningful sense” the same relief the Supreme Court already stayed.
The applicants argue that it is the 8th Circuit’s ruling — not another Supreme Court stay — that would now force election officials to change maps.
A federal judge in Missouri ruled in favor of the 2025 map last month, but the Supreme Court put a stay on that ruling just two weeks ago.
Opponents of the map issued an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court late Tuesday night after the St. Louis-based Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the new map on Monday.
The divisive redistricting map drawn in 2025 would grant Republicans an additional seat in the House of Representatives if it is put in place ahead of the 2026 elections.
The court ordered Missouri to use the 2025 map, finding that switching to the state’s 2022 districts after the primary would violate the U.S. Constitution.
People Not Politicians is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to keep Missouri's 2022 congressional map in place after a new 8th Circuit ruling.
UMKC Law Professor Allen Rostron calls the frequency unusual, but said part of the reason is a lack of specific reasoning in the court’s previous two rulings.
For the third time, Missouri’s congressional map fight is back before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Democratic group behind the petition, People Not Politicians, asked a state court to intervene, saying the group's petition of 300,000 signatures should have triggered a referendum on the new map under Missouri's constitution.
What this adds
The Supreme Court could act at any time on a case involving Missouri's Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, which is currently the subject of legal disputes.
A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that Missouri must use its Republican-favored 2025 redistricting map in November, despite the Supreme Court declining twice this month to intervene in the dispute.
Background
The Supreme Court could act at any time on a case involving Missouri's Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map, which is currently the subject of legal disputes.
A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that Missouri must use its Republican-favored 2025 redistricting map in November, despite the Supreme Court declining twice this month to intervene in the dispute.
What's confirmed
- Missouri’s congressional map fight is hurtling toward another potential Supreme Court showdown, with courts at odds over which districts should govern the November election after more than 1.2 million Missourians voted in the August primary under a different map.
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday that Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in November, finding that switching to the state’s 2022 districts after the primary would violate the U.S. Constitution.
- But the appeals court paused its order until Sept. 28, 2026, opening a narrow window for another visit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Abhishek Kambli, a partner at Holtzman Vogel and former deputy associate attorney general at the Justice Department, told Fox News Digital the Supreme Court’s previous intervention does not necessarily signal how the justices will handle the latest ruling.
- The Supreme Court previously stayed a federal district court’s temporary restraining order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 map.
- “So unless the Supreme Court steps in again, the state will be required to use the seven-one map for this election,” Kambli said.
- Roughly a month later, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that voters could challenge the map through a referendum, leaving the 2022 districts in place for the November election.
- After the Supreme Court’s earlier stay, Vikram wrote on SCOTUSblog that using the 2025 map in November would not protect anyone’s right to vote if those lines were never legally in effect.
- Kambli argued that the Missouri Supreme Court could have resolved the map dispute earlier, noting that the issue remained unsettled even after the candidate filing deadline passed.
- “Time passed. And passed further,” Bannon wrote for State Court Report.
- Bannon wrote that the Missouri Supreme Court’s criticism of Hoskins’ delays stood out, particularly the court’s rejection of his argument that it had waited too long to intervene.
- Kambli argued the Purcell principle, under which federal courts generally avoid changing election rules close to Election Day because of the potential for disruption, weighs in favor of keeping the 2025 map because Missouri already used it for the primary.
What's still developing
- The Supreme Court could act at any time. *The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the pro-voting parties in this case.
- Hoskins then appealed the case to the Supreme Court, but Kavanaugh declined to hear his request on Sept. 4.
- Fox News correspondent Mark Meredith has the latest on the key storylines shaping the race to the 2026 midterm elections, including the political fallout from the Supreme Court's Missouri redistricting decision, the battle for control of Congress, and the issues driving voters as both parties intensify their push toward November on 'Special Report.' The U.S.
- The development is the latest in a roller-coaster ride of legal decisions that have seen the new map fly up and down between federal and state courts, the Supreme Court and the Missouri Supreme Court.
- In Missouri, excuse absentee voting began Tuesday, though some election offices have warned voters that it might be a good idea to wait because of the ongoing court fight.
- “The Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August 2026 primary election.” The appeals court concluded that the primary and general election are parts of the same process for choosing a member of Congress and that voters must remain in the same congressional district throughout that process.
- That stay was set to remain in place through the appeals process and through consideration of a timely request for the Supreme Court to hear the case.
- Justices can handle such applications themselves or refer them to the full court.
- Last week, the high court majority backed the GOP on campaign advertising rates over the dissent of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
- In Tuesday’s case, the Republican-led state turned to Washington after Missouri’s Supreme Court blocked the map from being used in November.
- The court ordered him to put the measure on the November ballot, and it prohibited the state from using the new map unless and until voters approve it.
- Former DOJ official Abhishek Kambli weighs in after a federal appeals court ordered Missouri to use its new congressional map, setting up a potential return trip to the Supreme Court.