Supreme Court rejects a Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for third time

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Supreme Court on Friday turned away an attempt to use a new Missouri congressional map backed by President Donald Trump, potentially 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.

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.

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.

A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 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.

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, though some local election officials had urged voters to wait because of the legal uncertainty.

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 longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel 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.

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.

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.

Republican Secretary of State Denny 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.

Reactions to SCOTUS ruling Friday

Following Friday's ruling, Missouri organizations and officials reacted to the decision.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., spoke with KSHB 41 News on Friday after Friday's announcement.

"Anyone who hasn't been baffled by this simply doesn't understand bafflement," Cleaver said.

Cleaver shared that he hopes the ruling will help voters who have been dealing with confusion on what district they will vote in come November.

"We’re going to make sure that the voters understand that it's the same map they voted on for the last few years. In some ways, the confusion will be lessened because the ballots have already been printed, and in at least two cases, people have already voted," Cleaver said. "Good news that we don’t have to go back and try to explain that their vote is not going to count. The message is needed, but it’s a lot simpler than it would have been had they ruled in the other direction."

State Sen. Rick Brattin, who is running against incumbent Cleaver in the Nov. 3 general election, responded to Friday's ruling, calling it a "travesty for Missouri voters."

People Not Politicians, the group that spearheaded efforts to put the 2025 map to a statewide vote in November, shared a statement in support of the ruling to use the 2022 maps.

"We are done with corrupt politicians trying to force their map into effect outside the process outlined in the Missouri constitution," Executive Director Richard von Glahn said in a press release. "We have said from the beginning, people, not politicians will be the final deciders on this DC power grab. We are moving forward to vote NO on Proposition A."

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., called Friday's ruling disheartening in a statement on social media. He said he still remains "committed to an America First agenda regardless of where the congressional district lines fall."

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe shared a similar sentiment, calling the decision disappointing.

"It is disappointing that today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court means Missouri will conduct its November general election under a different congressional map than its primary election," Kehoe said on social media. "Voters deserved consistency and certainty, and not for the rules to be changed between elections. Nevertheless, Missouri will follow the court’s order."

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said in the statement below the decision was a "blow to representative democracy."

Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas also responded to the ruling.

"After an absolutely embarrassing process for statewide Republican leadership, the US Supreme Court has rejected the effort to use the Trump-mandated map for a third time," Lucas said in a press release. "There are many losers in this process: statewide elected officials, the White House, our lower federal courts, but most importantly, our taxpayers who were forced to fund wasteful litigation for an issue none of them ever asked for. The winners: the people of Missouri and Kansas City, democracy and the rule of law."

The ACLU of Missouri said Friday's decision should put an end to "confusion and chaos."

“Politicians and elected officials have unleashed unnecessary but intentional chaos on Missouri voters, not for the benefit of their constituents but for themselves and the state actors in D.C. who designed and demanded these maps solely for partisan power grab," Gillian Wilcox, director of litigation and policy for the ACLU of Missouri, said in a press release. "Voting has already begun and today's decision closes the door on the politicians’ shenanigans."

The Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, a voting rights organization, shared the below statement Friday.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision protects the democratic process in Missouri. Three times the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to upset the Missouri Supreme Court's determination that Missouri law requires the 2022 maps be used," Denise Lieberman, director and general counsel of the Missouri Voter Protection Coalition, said in a press release. "With absentee voting already underway, and tens of thousands of ballots already sent to voters, any decision to the contrary would clearly have caused abject chaos and disrupted voting already taking place. Even more, this decision stands as an important reminder that states and state law governs elections and that political actors cannot manipulate the voting rules for political gain. Today's decision is a victory for voters, for democracy and for the rule of law."

The National Redistricting Foundation (NFR) also responded Friday.

“This victory is the final nail in the coffin of Missouri’s egregious mid-decade gerrymander for the 2026 midterms,” Marina Jenkins, executive director of NRF, said in a press release. “Make no mistake: in the 2026 midterms, Missourians will not only vote on the Show Me State’s 2022 congressional map, a map that keeps Kansas City together, but they will also have the opportunity to veto Republicans’ egregious mid-decade gerrymander at the ballot box.”

The Missouri Democratic Party called on Missouri voters to continue protecting their voter power.

“We’ve been confident all along that — at the end of the day — that the courts would side with Missourians in this clear cut instance of chaos engineered by Republicans politicians in Jefferson City and Washington who have consistently tried to attack voter power," Missouri Democratic Party Chair Russ Carnahan said in part in a statement. "Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or independent, this victory, upholding your rights, is for you. This is an important victory for voter power in Missouri."

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