Missouri map takes another U-turn

The 2022 Missouri congressional map is back in play — for real this time. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Missouri from using a Republican-backed congressional map designed to give the GOP another U.S. House seat, putting the state’s old districts back in place for now for the Nov. 3 election. The decision came after a rapid series of conflicting state and federal court orders left election officials uncertain about which districts to use. Hours later, the Missouri Supreme Court found Secretary of State Denny Hoskins in contempt for failing to follow its earlier order requiring use of the 2022 map.

Hoskins initially declined to tell reporters whether he would direct local election officials to use the old districts. When he returned to court at 2 p.m., however, Hoskins said he would follow the U.S. Supreme Court’s order. “In accordance with that order, my office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map, ” Hoskins said in an emailed statement. The Missouri Supreme Court imposed no penalty. Chief Justice W. Brent Powell said Hoskins had “corrected his contemptuous conduct” by notifying election officials that the 2022 districts should be used.

Thursday’s U.S. Supreme Court order put on hold a ruling from Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark in St. Louis that had barred Missouri from using any map other than the one approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature last year. The U.S. Supreme Court gave no explanation for its decision, and there were no noted dissents.

At the center of the dispute is the Kansas City-based 5th District represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, one of Missouri’s two Black members of Congress. The 2025 boundaries were drawn to make Cleaver’s district more favorable to Republicans, who currently hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats. The new map made only minor changes to the St. Louis-area 1st District represented by Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell, Missouri’s other Black member of Congress.

The ruling came less than two months before the general election and after Missouri voters nominated congressional candidates in August using the 2025 districts.Thursday’s Supreme Court action resulted from an emergency request by People Not Politicians Missouri, the group behind a referendum challenging the new congressional boundaries.

The group turned to the Supreme Court after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declined to put Clark’s order on hold while an appeal proceeded. It was the second trip to the U.S. Supreme Court this week over the same redistricting fight. On Tuesday, Hoskins asked Justice Brett Kavanaugh to block a Missouri Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to return to the congressional districts used in the 2022 and 2024 elections.

Kavanaugh rejected that request without explanation. Less than an hour later, Clark issued a conflicting order in a separate federal lawsuit, barring Missouri from using any map other than the 2025 boundaries.

That lawsuit was brought by Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin and two voters. They argued that switching congressional districts after voters had already participated in August primaries under the new boundaries would violate their federal constitutional rights.

Clark agreed that changing maps between the primary and general elections could harm voters by requiring some to choose among candidates they had no role in nominating. “Disenfranchising voters across the state and denying them their constitutional right to have their primary votes counted significantly harm the public interest, ” Clark wrote.

The federal order put election officials in the unusual position of facing conflicting instructions. The Missouri Supreme Court had barred Hoskins from implementing the 2025 map, while Clark had barred him from using anything else. Hoskins asked Clark on Wednesday to stop the state Supreme Court from proceeding with the contempt hearing, arguing that the federal order controlled which map election officials should use.

Clark declined to intervene, saying the courts were addressing different legal questions and that there were numerous reasons not to interfere with the state’s highest court before it held a hearing.

The underlying dispute began after Republican lawmakers approved new congressional districts during a special session last year. President Donald Trump had urged Missouri and other Republican-led states to redraw congressional boundaries before the 2026 midterm elections. People Not Politicians submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December seeking a statewide referendum on the Missouri map. Hoskins rejected the petition Aug. 4, saying congressional redistricting was not subject to the state’s referendum process.

The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously disagreed Sept. 3, ruling that the referendum was legal, sufficient and filed on time. Because the petition was submitted before the new boundaries could take effect, the court concluded that the 2025 map never became law. The court ordered Missouri to use the 2022 congressional districts for the Nov. 3 election.

Voters will decide separately that day whether to approve the 2025 boundaries when the referendum appears on the ballot as Proposition A. For now, election officials have been directed to use the 2022 map. But the federal appeal over the congressional districts remains pending.

Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow

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