The Supreme Court has blocked an effort by Missouri to implement a new congressional map that would provide Republicans with one additional House seat ahead of the midterm elections.
🚨 Justice Brett Kavanaugh has denied Missouri’s bid to restore its 2025 congressional map for the November election, leaving in place a state Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to use its 2022 districts. The referendum on the new map will still proceed. pic.twitter.com/nAqBuRQCWU
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 8, 2026
BREAKING: Justice Brett Kavanaugh declines to take the case from Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway. Missouri’s original 6-2 map stands. The Missouri GOP’s last year of fighting and arm-twisting and arguments was all for nothing. Voters get final say on new map lines.
— Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) September 8, 2026
The decision to not take up the case, made by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, forced the state to revert back to the 2022 congressional map but allowed for Missouri to include a ballot initiative to decide whether or not the state should implement the new map going forward in future elections. The decision comes following a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that likewise tossed the 2025 map in favor of the 2022 map.
To complicate matters further, just moments following Kavanaugh’s decision to strike down the new map, Judge Stephen Clark ruled that the state could in fact use the 2025 map for the midterm elections, stating that changes to the map following the primary would nullify votes across the state.
Chief Judge Stephen Clark rejected the challengers’ Elections Clause argument, ruling Missouri may subject congressional redistricting to a referendum. But he found they are highly likely to prevail under Article I §2 and the Equal Protection Clause.
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 8, 2026
The dueling decisions are sure to lead to greater legal action to clarify the status of Missouri’s map with Election Day just 56 days away. Republicans have largely come out the victors in court rulings pertaining to the midterms, with changes to the Voting Rights Act and a failed effort to strip Republican seats in Virginia solidifying the GOP’s chances of retaining the House.
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