The Supreme Court on Friday dealt Missouri Republicans another defeat, blocking lower federal courts from forcing the state to use the Trump-backed 2025 congressional map in the midterms.
The unsigned order is a win for People Not Politicians, the group that forced a referendum on the map. It puts on hold rulings from the Eighth Circuit and a federal judge, including an appeals court decision one legal expert had called “borderline lawless,” and warns that federal courts should not change a state’s election rules once voting has already begun.
“Given this Court’s two prior orders in this litigation, our conclusion that this was error should come as no surprise,” the justices wrote of the Eighth Circuit’s ruling.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the 2025 map, which Republican lawmakers passed at President Donald Trump’s urging in an effort to flip Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City seat, cannot take effect unless voters approve it in a referendum.
The justices noted that ballots under the 2022 map have already been printed and mailed, and that Missouri’s secretary of state chose to run the August primary under the 2025 map despite being well aware of the risks.
The order came the same day the court handed Trump a win on a controversial federal voter database.
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