A third US Supreme Court showdown looms over Missouri’s shifting congressional map

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The fight over Missouri’s congressional map appears headed to the U.S. Supreme Court for a third time in three weeks as some federal judges continue to assert that a new map favored by President Donald Trump should be used in the November elections.

The U.S. Supreme Court, so far, has disagreed. It has instead let stand a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court, which ordered the state to use the same U.S. House districts as it did during the 2024 and 2022 elections.

A third decision from the nation’s top court could finally put the dispute to rest and provide some certainty for more than a million potential voters who have been shuffled back and forth between districts, causing confusion about which candidates will be on their ballots.

Here’s a look at the legal dispute over the districts:

Missouri court says new map can’t be used unless voters approve

The state Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that new congressional districts passed a year ago by the Republican-led state Legislature cannot be used unless voters first approve them. Those districts, backed by Trump, were designed to help Republicans win an additional seat in the midterm elections.

The court pointed to the Missouri Constitution, which allows citizens to submit petitions for a statewide referendum on acts passed by the Legislature. The constitution says that when measures are referred to the ballot, they take effect only when approved by voters.

In this case, redistricting opponents submitted thousands of referendum petition signatures in December. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until a deadline on Aug. 4 — the same day Missouri’s primaries were held using the new districts — to reject the petition. Hoskins asserted that referendum petitions aren’t allowed on congressional redistricting.

The state Supreme Court said Hoskins was wrong. The court said the referendum petition prevented the new map from taking effect, retroactive to December. That means the August primary was held under districts that aren’t in law. The court said the November election must be held under the only districts still in state law — a map adopted in 2022 after the most recent census.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles cases from Missouri, let that decision stand on Sept. 8.

Federal judges say districts can’t be changed after a primary

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the U.S. Constitution prohibits congressional districts from being changed between the primary and general election.

The Constitution doesn’t explicitly say that. But the judges pointed to a constitutional provision requiring U.S. House members to be elected every two years by voters in each state. They then cited prior court cases, which held that primaries can be an integral part of a state’s general election laws. And they noted that more than a million potential voters — about 1 in 4 statewide — would be shifted between the new and old districts, meaning they had no say in the primary about the congressional candidates appearing on their general election ballots.

The judges concluded that would deny those voters a constitutional right to choose their representatives. The appeals panel directed U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark to issue a new order barring Missouri from using anything other than the districts already used in the August primary. Clark quickly complied.

Clark had issued a similar temporary order Sept. 8, which the U.S. Supreme Court put on hold two days later. Opponents of the new map plan to ask the Supreme Court to also block the latest order.

Timing can play a role in election court cases

Throughout Missouri’s lengthy legal battle over redistricting, supporters and opponents of the new congressional map have taken turns arguing it’s too late for courts to order any changes.

Under its Purcell principle, named for a 2006 case out of Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that judges shouldn’t change voting or election rules too close to an election.

As a result of the recent U.S. and Missouri Supreme Court decisions, absentee voting already is underway in Missouri using the 2022 congressional districts. Opponents of the new map argue it’s too late to switch back to it.

But supporters of the new districts also have cited the Purcell principle, arguing that it’s too late to switch away from the districts used in the August primary. The appeals panel agreed, saying that using the 2025 map would cause the least confusion for voters.