The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for the third time on September 25, 2026, halting an appeals court ruling as absentee voting was already underway. The unsigned high court decision leaves Missouri using its 2022 and 2024 House districts for the midterm elections.
The high court’s unsigned ruling on September 25, 2026, arrived while absentee voting was already active across Missouri as absentee ballots were in circulation. With no noted dissents, the justices suspended an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals order that would have revived the Republican-drawn congressional boundaries for the November midterms.
The Legal Battleground Over Missouri Districts
Missouri’s redistricting battle spanned more than a year following a push by President Donald Trump for Republican-led states to redraw House boundaries to help secure a slim majority in Congress. Lawmakers in Missouri passed the revised map to target a Kansas City-based seat held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, intending to flip the district and help Republicans secure seven of the state’s eight House seats.
Opponents of the map organized under the group People Not Politicians and collected hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to force a statewide referendum. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until the legal deadline on August 4—the exact day of Missouri’s primary elections—to reject the petition, arguing that the state’s constitution does not permit referendum petitions for congressional redistricting.
Given this Court’s two prior orders in this litigation, our conclusion that this was error should come as no surprise.
U.S. Supreme Court, via USA Today
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled on September 3 that the citizen petition was valid and ordered Hoskins not to use the new map, concluding that the unapproved districts never officially became law. Although the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block that ruling on September 8, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a conflicting order enforcing the Trump-backed map, prompting the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to briefly restore it before the Supreme Court’s final intervention.
Voter Disruption and Election Administration Strains
The back-and-forth court rulings generated profound logistical headaches for local officials and created confusion for nearly a quarter of the state’s voters.
We just want it over, so we can do our job properly.
Shawn Kieffer, Kansas City election director
Local election authorities had already begun mailing absentee ballots under the 2022 map days prior. State attorneys representing Hoskins had warned the courts that running an orderly election at such a late stage would be exceedingly difficult regardless of which map was ultimately chosen.
Reactions From Cleaver, Brattin, and Legal Counsel
Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, whose 5th Congressional District was targeted by the redistricting effort, celebrated the ruling after running unopposed in his primary.
I think my reelection prospects shot up significantly.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, via Chron
Abha Khanna, an attorney representing the map’s opponents, emphasized that the decision safeguards ballots already cast and preserves the right of Missourians to determine their own map.