Missouri redistricting fight heads back to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON — The no-holds-barred redistricting fight in Missouri has returned to the U.S. Supreme Court for the second time, with opponents of a new GOP-drawn congressional map urgently asking the justices to prevent it from being used in the midterm elections.

At issue is how to resolve two competing rulings, with the Missouri Supreme Court finding last week that the new map could not be used based on state law while a voter referendum that could veto it moves forward. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to block the state court ruling.

But in a separate case, a federal court on Tuesday ruled that the new map must be used in order to prevent violations of the U.S. Constitution, raising questions that were not put to the U.S. Supreme Court in the state case.

The Missouri Supreme Court has also opened a contempt probe into Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. A hearing is set for Thursday morning.

All of this is playing out after Tuesday’s deadline to finalize Missouri ballots ahead of this fall’s elections. First ballots are set to go out in the state on Sept. 19.

In the new U.S. Supreme Court filing, brought by a group called People Not Politicians, led by activist Richard von Glahn, lawyers said the federal judge’s ruling is in “direct conflict” with the state Supreme Court.

Hoskins has made it clear that “election officials will continue to implement a congressional map that Missouri’s highest court has held is not and never has been law,” they wrote.

Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark ruled on Tuesday that the state must use the map that people voted in during the primary.

The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put that ruling on hold.

Separately, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an order asking Hoskins, a Republican, to explain “why he should not be held in contempt” for violating the ruling last week that said the state cannot use the new map. Despite the ruling, Hoskins has continued to push to use the new map.

The court also ordered Hoskins to appear in person at Thursday’s hearing.

Hoskins indicated in a post on X that he would not back down.

“I look forward to my day in court,” he said.

A congressional map Missouri Republicans enacted in 2025, part of a nationwide redistricting push led by President Donald Trump, sought to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

Should the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling remain in effect, a map drawn in 2022, with six Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats, would be in place for the general election.

The legal fight was kick-started when von Glahn’s group gathered signatures in support of a state referendum that would undo the GOP-drawn map and put it on hold for the 2026 election.

But Hoskins refused to put the measure on the ballot, arguing that redistricting plans are not subject to voters’ approval. The Missouri Supreme Court, which has a majority of Republican appointees, disagreed, saying there was nothing in state law that exempted congressional maps passed by the Legislature from being vetoed by voters via the referendum process.

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