Supreme Court will hear arguments in a Missouri redistricting case for a third time after Justice Brett Kavanaugh accepted a request to intervene in the case once again Tuesday night. The divisive redistricting map drawn in 2025 would grant Republicans an additional seat in the House of Representatives if it is put in place ahead of the 2026 elections. A federal judge in Missouri ruled in favor of the 2025 map last month, but the Supreme Court put a stay on that ruling just two weeks ago.
Opponents of the map issued an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court late Tuesday night after the St. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the new map on Monday. FEDERAL APPEALS COURT ORDERS MISSOURI TO USE CONGRESSIONAL MAP REJECTED TWICE BY SUPREME COURT Kavanaugh handles emergency requests for the state of Missouri and directed supporters of the new map to respond to the appeal by Wednesday at 2 p.m.
The development is the latest in a roller-coaster ride of legal decisions that have seen the new map fly up and down between federal and state courts, the Supreme Court and the Missouri Supreme Court. ELECTION CHAOS IN THIS RED STATE JUST GOT EVEN STRANGER FOR REPUBLICANS AFTER SUPREME COURT RULING The case began when Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected a petition for the 2025 map to be placed on the ballot for a vote in 2026. Instead, the new map was used to determine congressional districts for the state's primary elections.
The Democratic group behind the petition, People Not Politicians, asked a state court to intervene, saying the group's petition of 300,000 signatures should have triggered a referendum on the new map under Missouri's constitution. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed, writing that the 2025 map cannot go into effect "unless and until approved by the voters at the November 2026 general election." MISSOURI HIGH COURT BLOCKS GOP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAPS AHEAD OF MIDTERMS; TRUMP BLASTS 'RIDICULOUS' RULING Hoskins then appealed the case to the Supreme Court, but Kavanaugh declined to hear his request on Sept. 4. Meanwhile, Republican candidates who won primary elections based on the 2025 maps brought up a separate case in federal court, arguing that if the general election takes place under the 2022 map their districts would be very different from the primary maps.
Many general election voters, they noted, would also be presented with options they had no role in voting for during the primaries. SUPREME COURT AGAIN BLOCKS MISSOURI FROM USING TRUMP-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL MAPS Eighth Circuit Judge Stephen R. Clark ruled in favor of those candidates and issued an order requiring that the 2025 maps be used in this year's elections, effectively contradicting the state Supreme Court.
This time, People Not Politicians asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, and Kavanaugh agreed. The court issued an unsigned order blocking Clark's order until the Eighth Circuit issued a formal ruling in the case.
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