The Supreme Court on Thursday stopped Republicans from using new congressional districts state lawmakers had drawn for the midterm election that targeted one of two Democratic U.S. House seats.
The one-page order, which did not include a reason for the decision and had no noted dissents, resolved what had been conflicting rulings between two separate state and federal courts on which map the state should use. The Missouri Supreme Court in one case had ordered state officials to use a map from 2022, and in a separate case a federal district judge later ordered state officials to use the redrawn map.
The Supreme Court blocked the order by the federal district judge. Previously, the Supreme Court had declined a request from state officials to halt the decision by the state Supreme Court, which had ruled the state should use the 2022 congressional maps and put a referendum on the redistricted maps ahead of voters in November.
“Missourians don’t need a Secretary of State who manufactures confusion; they need one who follows the law,” Richard von Glahn, the executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, wrote in a statement shortly following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. “Denny Hoskins has had every chance to do that and chose not to. The courts have settled this, now it’s up to Missouri voters to finish the job,” referring to the referendum vote that now appears set to take place in November.
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The Supreme Court order came less than an hour before Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was set to appear before the state Supreme Court over potential contempt charges. In court on Thursday morning, lawyers for Hoskins said that the secretary was “aware” of the Supreme Court ruling, and that he would be “looking to implement this court’s injunction.”
“How that technically happens, that’s what’s being evaluated right now,” the attorney said, while noting that there could be “more litigation to be done should the plaintiffs choose to do that.”
Missouri officials and the Trump administration filed briefs in the case in support of using the Republican maps and opposing the request for a stay, just minutes before the Supreme Court ruled.
The state and Trump administration argued that such a decision would “disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Missourians who voted in the Primary,” which was held under the redistricted maps.
Missouri was one of the first states to redraw its map last summer after President Donald Trump called on Republican state lawmakers to redistrict to their advantage. The redrawn map, which was ushered through both chambers in the state legislature last September, split Kansas City three ways in an effort to draw out Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s seat.
Per Missouri law, voters can challenge state law through petitions. People Not Politicians gathered more than twice the number of necessary signatures to force a referendum by the end of 2025. In August, Hoskins refused to certify the signatures, setting off the series of legal challenges.
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