Missouri congressional map fight returns to U.S. Supreme Court for third time
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
For the third time, Missouri’s congressional map fight is back before the U.S. Supreme Court.
People Not Politicians and Richard von Glahn filed an emergency request Tuesday night, asking the Supreme Court to keep Missouri from switching to its 2025 congressional map for the November election.
On Monday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Missouri must use the 2025 map, which was used during Missouri’s August primary.
In its ruling, the court said Missouri cannot use one set of congressional districts for the August primary and then switch to another for the November election.
“The Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August 2026 primary election.”
The appeals court concluded that the primary and general election are parts of the same process for choosing a member of Congress and that voters must remain in the same congressional district throughout that process.
In its filing Tuesday night, People Not Politicians argues it’s too late to make that change, citing the fact that election officials have already printed and mailed ballots using the 2022 map.
In Missouri, excuse absentee voting began Tuesday, though some election offices have warned voters that it might be a good idea to wait because of the ongoing court fight. Military and overseas ballots have also gone out.
People Not Politicians argues changing maps now could create problems for people who have already voted.
“At best, their already-cast votes would get thrown out and they would be forced to cast another ballot,” the filing says. “At worst, those voters will be precluded from voting at all in the general election.”
The group is also pointing to what the U.S. Supreme Court already did in the case.
On Sept. 10, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked an earlier federal court order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 map. That stay was set to remain in place through the appeals process and through consideration of a timely request for the Supreme Court to hear the case.
People Not Politicians argues that means the Supreme Court’s earlier stay is still in effect and should also apply to the latest order requiring the 2025 map.
The group argues the lower courts can’t get around that stay by replacing the earlier temporary order with a permanent injunction.
“If this Court’s stay order bars a court of appeals from making a stayed injunction operative by affirming it, it cannot accomplish the same result by packaging the same relief in a new injunction,” the filing says.
People Not Politicians is asking the high court to clarify that its Sept. 10 stay still applies. If the court doesn’t believe that’s the case, the group is asking the justices to issue a new stay that would keep the 2022 map in place while the case continues.
This will be the third time the congressional map dispute has reached the U.S. Supreme Court this month.
On Sept. 8, Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ request to block a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that prevented the 2025 map from being used. On that same day, a federal judged granted a temporary restraining order, which stated that Missouri was required to use the 2025 map.
Two days later, the full U.S. Supreme Court granted a separate request from People Not Politicians to temporarily block the federal judge’s order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 map.
Kavanaugh, who handles emergency requests from the 8th Circuit, has asked the other parties in the case to respond by 1 p.m. Kansas City time Wednesday.
There’s also a deadline approaching.
Monday’s order put the federal injunction requiring Missouri to use the 2025 map on hold until 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, giving the Supreme Court time to consider the case.
If the Supreme Court does not intervene before then, the federal injunction requires Missouri to move forward with the 2025 map.
People Not Politicians is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to keep Missouri’s 2022 congressional map in place after a new 8th Circuit ruling.
The 2025 map splits Kansas City into three separate districts and extends the 5th congressional district into central Missouri.
It creates seven Republican-leaning seats out of the eight Missouri has.
Legal expert explains why Missouri map fight keeps returning to Supreme Court
UMKC Law Professor Allen Rostron calls the frequency unusual, but said part of the reason is a lack of specific reasoning in the court’s previous two rulings.
“They didn’t explain why,” Rostron said. “If they’d had even one sentence of explanation about why they were reaching the result they were reaching, then that would have communicated to the other judges what to do next.”
Instead, Rostron said it left the rulings open for further challenges from lower courts.
“They left it a mystery, and these judges have stepped in and tried to interpret what they think they’re supposed to do,” Rostron said. “And, you know, maybe correctly or incorrectly, but they’re sort of guessing about what they think the Supreme Court is really saying.”
Rostron said another reason the court has seen the same issue with such frequency is that the November election is less than six weeks away.
Excuse absentee voting started in Missouri on Tuesday. People across the state who won’t be able to vote on election day can now cast their ballots.
Election officials are using the 2022 Congressional map for those ballots, so if changes have to be made, they need to be made quickly.
“Ballots have already gone out,” Rostron said. “People may have already voted. And so there is no time to waste. The Supreme Court needs to make a clear, definitive ruling on this, once and for all.”
In his expert opinion, Rostron believes SCOTUS will rule as it has the previous two rulings – siding with the 2022 congressional map for November.
“They’ve already made two decisions that suggested that was their inclination,” Rostron said. “And the question is why would they change their mind now? What has changed? I don’t think anything has really changed.”
