The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Missouri from using a newly drawn, Republican-favored congressional map in November's midterm elections, a setback for President Trump's national push to redraw House districts before voters go to the polls.
The justices granted an emergency request from the map's challengers, unsigned and without noted dissents, suspending a federal judge's order that would have let the new boundaries take effect. Earlier in the week, Justice Brett Kavanaugh had separately turned away a related request from state Republicans without referring it to the full court.
A seat drawn out from under a Democrat
Missouri Republicans, at Trump's urging, enacted the new map in 2025 as part of a broader mid-decade redistricting effort aimed at padding the party's narrow House majority. The redrawn lines dismantled the Kansas City-based seat long held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, splitting it among neighboring districts and stretching what remained into rural, heavily Republican territory. The plan would have given Republicans a shot at seven of Missouri's eight House seats, up from six.
With the map now blocked, the state is expected to use its 2022 boundaries — which elect six Republicans and two Democrats — for the November 3 election, according to the reporting on the order.
A same-day contempt fight
The ruling arrived amid a parallel showdown in Missouri's own Supreme Court, which had found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for directing local election officials to prepare the new map after the state court had ordered the 2022 lines restored. Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court's stay, Hoskins reversed course.
Following the United States Supreme Court's stay, the only governing court order in effect is from the Missouri Supreme Court. In accordance with that order, my Office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map.
Denny Hoskins, Missouri Secretary of State
Missouri Chief Justice W. Brent Powell said at a hearing that Hoskins had thereby "purged himself of contempt." The monthslong dispute had also drawn a citizen petition drive that gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures seeking a statewide referendum on the new map, before Hoskins delayed acting on the petition until after the map had already been used in the state primary.
The outcome likely closes the book on Missouri's map fight for this cycle, and it lands as one of several redistricting battles — echoing similar fights over district lines in Texas and elsewhere — that will help determine whether Republicans can hold their slim House majority in January.
