Supreme Court Blocks Trump-Backed Missouri Congressional Map for Third Time
The Supreme Court on Friday blocked another attempt to use Missouri’s Republican-drawn congressional map in the November midterm elections, marking the third time the justices have rejected efforts to revive the Trump-backed districts.
The unsigned decision clears the way for Missouri to use the congressional map approved in 2022. The Supreme Court said the election is already underway and warned that changing the districts at this stage would create “electoral chaos.”
Missouri Republicans approved the new map in 2025 after President Trump urged GOP-led states to pursue mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2026 elections. The new boundaries were designed to give Republicans an opportunity to win seven of Missouri’s eight congressional seats, compared with the six seats they currently hold.
The biggest change involved the Kansas City-area district represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The new map split portions of Kansas City and added Republican-leaning areas along the Missouri River, significantly changing the political makeup of Cleaver’s district.
Missouri used the 2025 map during its August primary election. However, opponents collected hundreds of thousands of signatures seeking a statewide referendum on the new districts, creating a legal battle over whether the map could remain in effect.
The Missouri Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the referendum petition was valid and that the state must use its previous 2022 districts for the November election while voters decide the fate of the newer map.
A separate federal lawsuit complicated the situation. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Missouri should use the same map in the general election that it used during the primary, concluding that switching maps between the two elections would violate the Constitution.
The appeals court ordered a federal judge to prohibit Missouri from using anything other than the 2025 map. However, it temporarily delayed that order to give opponents time to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
The Supreme Court stepped in Friday and blocked the appeals court’s ruling. The justices emphasized that ballots using the 2022 districts have already been printed and mailed and that absentee voting, including voting by military and overseas voters, has already begun.
The decision means Missouri will use the 2022 congressional map for the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The Supreme Court’s action resolves which districts will be used this year but does not end the broader dispute over the 2025 map, which Missouri voters are expected to address separately through the referendum.