UPDATE: The map fight returns to the U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — Opponents of Missouri's Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to suspend a federal judge's order requiring election officials to use that map in the November 3 midterm election, Reuters reported.
The new request follows two orders pointing in opposite directions. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled September 3 that the 2025 map never took effect after a valid referendum petition and ordered use of the 2022 districts. Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark then temporarily barred Missouri from using any map except the 2025 districts.
The emergency filing is a request for relief, not a Supreme Court ruling. The reviewed sources do not establish that the justices have decided which map Missouri must use, and the conflict leaves the November congressional boundaries in legal limbo.
Kavanaugh's earlier denial did not end the dispute
Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday denied Missouri officials' separate emergency application in Hoskins v. von Glahn, No. 26A304, without an accompanying explanation. That request sought to undo the Missouri Supreme Court judgment and restore the 2025 map.
Minutes after the federal Supreme Court action, Clark issued a temporary order in another case. He directed the state to use the 2025 boundaries because they had governed the August 4 primary and because switching maps between the primary and general election could violate federal rights, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
Kavanaugh's brief denial did not adjudicate Clark's later order or explain the justices' view of the competing federal claims. Treating the denial as a final merits ruling—or treating Clark's temporary order as the last word—would overstate what either court has decided.
Missouri's top court may consider contempt
Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins responded to the federal order by directing local election officials to proceed with the 2025 map. The Missouri Supreme Court ordered him to appear Thursday, September 10, for a hearing on whether that conduct violated its September 3 judgment.
An order to appear at a contempt hearing is not a contempt finding. The state court has not yet made the determination described in the reviewed reporting, and Hoskins is operating under a federal order that points in the opposite direction.
The clash is institutional as well as political: one court says the referendum suspended the 2025 law before it took effect, while another says federal election protections may require continuity between the primary and general election.
Why the Missouri court stopped the new map
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the citizen referendum petition challenging House Bill 1 was legal, sufficient and timely. It held that submission of the petition suspended the map before it became law and directed officials to use the districts adopted after the 2020 census.
The referendum is scheduled for November 3 as Proposition A. A yes vote would uphold the 2025 map; a no vote would repeal it. The ballot measure remains scheduled regardless of the emergency dispute over which boundaries govern this year's congressional contests.
The state used the 2025 districts for its August primary after Hoskins waited until primary day to reject the petition. No court in the reviewed sources has ordered a second primary, leaving candidates and election officials with a fast-moving dispute over the general-election map.
The partisan stakes are significant—but the outcome is not guaranteed
President Donald Trump publicly backed the mid-decade redraw, and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe called the 2025 special session that produced it. The map reshaped the Kansas City-based 5th District represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver and was designed to give Republicans an advantage in seven of Missouri's eight U.S. House districts.
Missouri's current delegation consists of six Republicans and two Democrats. Supporters hoped the new boundaries would help Republicans gain another seat, but a map's partisan tilt does not guarantee an election result. Voters, candidates, turnout and campaigns still decide who wins each district.
The competing decisions address different questions about the referendum, the map's legal status and federal election rights. They do not declare partisan redistricting categorically unconstitutional or decide the ultimate political fairness of either map.
What is confirmed—and what remains unresolved
Confirmed: Missouri's top court ordered use of the 2022 districts, a federal judge temporarily ordered use of the 2025 districts, Hoskins told local officials to follow the federal order, and map opponents have now asked the U.S. Supreme Court for emergency relief.
Not confirmed: which map will ultimately govern the November election, whether the U.S. Supreme Court will grant the new request, whether the Missouri Supreme Court will find Hoskins in contempt or how voters will decide Proposition A. The legal conflict is real; its outcome is not settled.
The accompanying image is an authentic February 2025 photograph of the Supreme Court of Missouri Building by Antony-22, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. It is a file photograph and does not depict the September 2026 hearing, the referendum campaign or anyone named in this report.
Sources and further reading
Reuters: Missouri map fight returns to the U.S. Supreme Court ↗
Associated Press: How Missouri reached conflicting federal and state map orders ↗
U.S. Supreme Court docket: Application 26A304 denied by Justice Kavanaugh on September 8 ↗
Associated Press: Supreme Court rebuffs Missouri's request to use the newer House map ↗
U.S. Supreme Court: Missouri's emergency application for a stay in No. 26A304 ↗
Associated Press: Emergency appeal, response deadline and ballot timetable ↗
Reuters: Missouri asks the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the Republican-drawn map ↗
Supreme Court of Missouri: September 3 signed majority opinion in SC101805 ↗
Associated Press: The unanimous Missouri ruling and November-election consequences ↗
Missouri Senate: Official legislative record for House Bill 1 ↗
Ballotpedia: Referendum status, ballot date and competing maps ↗
Wikimedia Commons: Supreme Court of Missouri Building photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗