Federal judge orders Missouri to use map targeting Democratic House seat

Michael Macagnone, CQ-Roll Call on Sep 8, 2026

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WASHINGTON — A federal court in Missouri ordered the state to use a GOP-preferred congressional map Tuesday following a state court ruling that would have axed the plan for this fall.

The ruling, from Judge Stephen R. Clark for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, came minutes after Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh declined to get involved in the matter. Clark ruled that, despite a state Supreme Court ruling that the map passed by the Legislature in 2025 was not legal, the state must use it anyway.

Ruling in favor of Republican Rep. Bob Onder, Clark wrote that allowing elections to go forward on the 2022 map would effectively disenfranchise voters, as the primary was already held in August. The deadline for finalizing the state’s ballot for November is Tuesday, Clark wrote.

“Using a different map for the general election would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri’s congressional elections, calling into question the candidacy of those nominated in the primaries and the votes of those who voted in the primaries,” Clark wrote. “Widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow.”

Onder and others brought the lawsuit in federal court after the state’s Supreme Court ruled last week the state could not use the new congressional map this fall because the map still had to go before voters through the state’s referendum process.

The state high court’s unanimous decision last week found that the new map could not proceed without going through a referendum first. The justices wrote that the new map, which targeted one of the seats held by Democrats “never took effect” and that it could not do so until approved by voters.

Clark wrote that the order will remain in effect for 14 days, pending a hearing on a more permanent order.

Minutes earlier Tuesday, the Supreme Court denied a bid by Missouri Republicans to revive the state’s new map.

Kavanaugh, who handled the case, denied it without referring the case to the full court, and Tuesday’s order did not include any explanation or dissents.

The Republican-led Legislature passed the map last year as part of a nationwide escalation in partisan gerrymandering. The new map targeted the seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, around Kansas City.

The state’s eight-member House delegation currently contains two Democratic members.

Shortly after the Legislature passed the map, the group People Not Politicians in Missouri pursued a citizen referendum, as the vote in the Legislature fell below a threshold to be enacted on its own. The group then sued to attempt to force the issue after Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declined to approve the referendum for the November election and moved forward with the new map.

Earlier this year the state’s high court upheld the map as part of a different case, where challengers argued the map violated provisions of the state constitution. That case left the referendum issue open.

Hoskins, who led the emergency application to the Supreme Court, argued that the state high court’s ruling interfered with federal control of elections. Hoskins also pointed out that it would be difficult to administer elections this fall in the wake of the ruling, especially as the state already held its primary.

Hoskins argued that the justices “never held that just 3.3% of a State’s voters can unilaterally suspend a disfavored congressional map by submitting a referendum petition.”

President Donald Trump, who initiated political gerrymandering efforts in Missouri, Texas and elsewhere, criticized the state Supreme Court ruling as “horrible, ridiculous and unConstitutional.”