Supreme Court blocks Missouri’s attempt to use newly drawn GOP congressional map

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked an attempt by a Republican state official in Missouri to use a newly drawn GOP congressional map for this year’s election.The court, in a brief order with no noted dissents, granted an emergency request brought by a group called People Not Politicians, led by activist Richard von Glahn.The decision puts on hold a decision by Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, who ruled on Tuesday that the new map must be used, notwithstanding the Missouri Supreme Court reaching the opposite conclusion.Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ lawyers told the U.S. Supreme Court justices just minutes earlier that only Clark’s order is “preventing the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters” who participated in the primary election using the new congressional map.With little time before the November election, it is the only way that Missouri can “conduct congressional elections that comply with the federal election calendar,” they added.The Trump administration also filed a brief backing Hoskins, saying that if the justices were to block Clark’s ruling, it would “jeopardize state officials’ ability to conduct a timely and lawful federal election.”This is the second time the underlying fight has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. On Tuesday, Justice Kavanaugh rejected a request from Hoskins seeking to block the Missouri Supreme Court ruling.Meanwhile, the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday is considering whether to hold Hoskins in contempt for defying its previous ruling.The court is holding a hearing at 11 a.m. ET, telling Hoskins to attend in person.The broader clash is over a congressional map Missouri Republicans enacted in 2025, part of a nationwide redistricting push led by President Donald Trump. The new map sought to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.With the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling in effect, the map drawn in 2022, with six Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats, will be in place for the general election.The legal fight began when opponents of the new map gathered signatures in support of a state referendum that would undo the GOP-drawn map and put it on hold for the 2026 election.But Hoskins delayed a decision on whether to include the measure on the ballot, waiting to the last minute before rejecting the plan, arguing that redistricting plans are not subject to voters’ approval. The Missouri Supreme Court, which has a majority of Republican appointees, disagreed, saying there was nothing in state law that exempted congressional maps passed by the Legislature from being vetoed by voters via the referendum process.The federal lawsuit was filed by Rick Brattin, the Republican nominee in the district currently held by Cleaver, as well as Rep. Bob Onder, R-Mo. and two voters. Clark then ruled Tuesday that the state must use the map that people voted in during the primary.The drama is playing out even after Tuesday’s deadline to finalize Missouri ballots ahead of this fall’s elections. First ballots are set to go out in the state on Sept. 19.