The Supreme Court on Friday paused lower-court orders requiring Missouri to use its 2025 congressional map in the November 2026 election, leaving the 2022 map in place as voting is already underway. The new map was intended to give Republicans an extra House seat.
Missouri adopted the 2025 map in September 2025. People Not Politicians and executive director Richard von Glahn submitted more than 300,000 signatures to put it to a referendum. After Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the petition, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that it was valid and timely, saying the map could take effect only if voters approved it in November.
The dispute returned to the Supreme Court for a third time in less than a month after Republican nominees Robert Onder and Richard Brattin and two voters sued to restore the 2025 map. They argued that the 2022 boundaries would put them in different districts from those used for August’s primaries. A federal judge ordered Missouri to use the 2025 map, and the 8th Circuit upheld that order Sept. 21. The justices said the election had already started and a late change could cause “electoral chaos.”
