Supreme Court Blocks New Map, Keeping Missouri's 2022 Congressional Districts for Midterms

The U.S. Supreme Court for the third time rejected Missouri Republicans’ effort to use their 2025 congressional map in the 2026 midterms, leaving the 2022 map in place. The older map gives Republicans a 6–2 advantage, while the newer map would have shifted the balance to 7–1 by redrawing Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City district. In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices blocked lower-court rulings seeking to reinstate the newer map, saying a late change during an ongoing election risked electoral chaos. The dispute followed a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that the 2025 map could not take effect before a statewide referendum, although Republicans had already used it in the August primary and absentee voting for the general election was underway.
The Supreme Court’s order gave lower courts instructions in both directions: they must not bar Missouri from using the 2022 map, and must not require the state to use the 2025 map.
The Supreme Court’s decision came less than five weeks before the November election, after a federal appeals court had ordered Missouri to use the 2025 map.
The Missouri Supreme Court ordered Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to appear at a contempt hearing to explain why he directed local election officials to use the 2025 map.
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