For the third time this month, the Supreme Court blocked Missouri from using a new congressional map that favors Republicans, ending a legal fight that created major confusion around November’s midterm elections in the state.
The justices on Friday ruled Missouri must use a map that will give Democrats a good shot at holding on to two of the state’s eight House seats during the pivotal upcoming elections that will determine control of Congress.
The convoluted case has bounced through state and federal court in recent weeks, resulting in a series of rulings that left election administrators and voters uncertain what boundaries would be in play even as Missouri began sending out mail-in ballots.
In the latest twist, the anti-gerrymandering group People Not Politicians asked the high court to overturn an appeals court ruling clearing the way for the Missouri map that would likely allow Republicans to net an extra seat in Congress. State officials drew the new map in fall 2025.
The justices sided with the group, saying any changes would confuse voters so close to an election. There were no noted dissents to the ruling.
“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” the justices wrote.
The decision followed two others by the justices this month that ordered the state to revert to the older map that favored Democrats, before the case returned to the lower courts for more legal wrangling.
Missouri’s Republicans had sought to redraw the congressional maps at the request of President Donald Trump, who has been pushing GOP-controlled states to gerrymander to help the party maintain control of Congress.
A court cleared the state to run the August primary elections under the new GOP-friendly map, but the Missouri Supreme Court then ordered the state to revert to the older map for the general election.
The state had in recent days begun sending mail-in ballots using the Democratic-friendly map.
In its ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit found it would be unconstitutional for the state to hold the primary and general elections using different maps, but the Supreme Court rejected that argument.
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