Supreme Court asked to end legal mess over Missouri’s congressional map
Activists in Missouri are urging the U.S.Supreme court to resolve ongoing disputes over which congressional map should be used for November elections. The controversy began when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that a 2025 map, favoring Republicans with a 7-1 advantage, must be placed for referendum, and that the 2022 map, which gives a 6-2 Republican advantage, should be used in the upcoming elections. this led to legal actions, including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and separate federal lawsuits. Although the Supreme Court previously denied attempts to adopt the 2025 map for the 2022 elections, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Missouri to use the newer map for November. The group “People Not Politicians” claims the court’s previous stays prevent lower courts from re-issuing similar relief and argues that because early voting has already begun, the state should use the 2022 map to avoid confusion. The supreme Court has asked Missouri officials for a response by mid-Wednesday, with a decision expected soon given the proximity of the election.
Activists in Missouri asked the Supreme Court to end the messy legal saga over which congressional map the Show-Me State will use in November, with the high court being asked to weigh in on the redistricting fight for the third time this month.
The current confusion began late last month when the Missouri Supreme Court sided with the left-wing group People Not Politicians finding that a congressional map passed in 2025 — which gave the GOP a 7-1 advantage over Democrats — must be put up for referendum in November, also ordering that the 2022 congressional map — which gives the GOP a 6-2 advantage over Democrats — must be used in the November elections. The August congressional primaries in Missouri had been held using the 2025 map, leading state officials to appeal the state Supreme Court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court and file a separate lawsuit in federal court seeking to use the 2025 map for the November election.
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The Supreme Court has twice denied efforts to use the 2025 map for the elections on its emergency docket, but has now been asked for a third time after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a merits ruling ordering the state to use the newer congressional map for the November elections. The left-wing group argued that the Eighth Circuit is attempting to go around the Supreme Court’s earlier emergency docket ruling, which cleared the way for the 2022 map to be used in November, and claimed the high court should clarify its stance on which map should be used by Missouri officials.
“A lower court cannot demand the same relief this Court has stayed by cloaking it in a new order,” the petition to the Supreme Court late Tuesday said. “This Court’s September 10 Order stayed the district court’s first injunction requiring Missouri to use HB 1 through appellate and certiorari review. The Court should clarify that its stay means what it says: the Eighth Circuit cannot evade it by directing entry of a permanent injunction requiring exactly the same thing.”
The group’s petition argues that because mail-in ballots have begun to be sent out and early voting began Tuesday in Missouri, the Supreme Court should keep the 2022 map in place rather than force officials to scramble and send out new ballots with the 2025 map.
APPEALS COURT RULING TEES UP SUPREME COURT BATTLE FOR GOP-FRIENDLY MISSOURI MAP
“This Court’s stays are not invitations for a lower court to repackage the same relief and try again. Nor does the law permit the unprecedented disruption the Eighth Circuit injects here—particularly not on such a faulty basis. With voting already underway, the Court should grant this application before that becomes irreversible,” People Not Politicians wrote in its petition to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ordered a response from Missouri officials by 2 p.m. on Wednesday. While a timetable has not been established for a ruling by the high court, with the election less than six weeks away, the justices are expected to issue a decision quickly.
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