JEFFERSON CITY, September 25 — Opponents of Missouri’s gerrymandered congressional map asked the U.S. Supreme Court late Tuesday to block a federal ruling that would require the use of a 2025 map for the Nov. 3 elections, as the first votes were being cast under the 2022 map. The filing, made about 10:30 p.m. by attorneys for People Not Politicians, the political action committee that sponsored a redistricting referendum, is the third time in three weeks that the dispute has reached the high court.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh directed that responses from Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and the two congressional candidates who filed the case be filed by 1 p.m. Wednesday.
A Map Suspended, Then Revived
The emergency motion asks the justices to again direct the state to use the 2022 map for the November election. It came after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday evening denied a request to rescind its order requiring use of the 2025 map. That ruling is on hold until Sept. 28, leaving the 2022 map in place for now.
The underlying order, issued Monday by U.S. Chief District Judge Stephen Clark, bars “the use of any congressional district map other than the 2025 map” for the election. It was issued at the direction of the appeals court and stayed until Sept. 28 to allow time for the appeal.
People Not Politicians argues that the 8th Circuit ruling “demands a new map after votes have already been cast.” In the filing, the group’s attorneys wrote that “ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed, and absentee voting, both by mail and in-person, began today.
Those ballots cannot be reassigned to new districts now.” The group also reminded the high court that on two previous occasions it has upheld the Missouri Supreme Court’s order that the redistricting plan passed in 2025 “never went into effect” because of the referendum.
Conflicting Orders as Voting Begins
The legal scramble comes as Missouri election officials face conflicting state and federal court orders. The first ballots, for overseas voters, were sent last week, and the first in-person votes, for people who will be unable to reach the polls on Election Day, were being cast Tuesday.
Earlier Monday, People Not Politicians’ attorney Alixandra Cossette asked the 8th Circuit to rescind its order, writing that “the on-the-ground reality is irrefutable” and that “Missouri’s 116 local election authorities are running the election under the 2022 map.” Lou Capozzi, solicitor general for Missouri, urged the court to deny the motion, arguing the group has questionable standing and is unlikely to prevail at the Supreme Court. The 8th Circuit denied the request shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The Fight Over the 5th District
The fight centers on a map passed by the Republican-led Legislature at the insistence of President Donald Trump. The map was drawn to make the 5th District, held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, significantly more favorable to Republicans. Cleaver received more than 60% of the vote in the district drawn by lawmakers in 2022 and used in the 2022 and 2024 elections.
People Not Politicians began organizing a referendum campaign before Republicans finished pushing the map through the Legislature. Under the Missouri Constitution, a successful referendum petition puts the legislation on a statewide ballot and suspends the legal effect of a bill signed by the governor until approved by voters.
Republican officials spent much of the year fighting both effects, including successfully arguing that the Aug. 4 primary should be held using the 2025 map because the petition had not been certified for the ballot. But the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the referendum was valid and that the 2025 map never went into effect. What happens next rests with Kavanaugh’s Wednesday deadline and the full court’s response.
The Sept. 28 stay expiration looms as the operative date — if the justices decline to intervene, the 2025 map would take effect for a November election already underway under the old lines. That is the calculus Missouri’s election authorities, and both parties in Washington, are watching.
