The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked an effort in Missouri to use a newly drawn congressional map in the midterm elections, which would likely give Republicans an extra U.S. House seat.

In a brief order with no noted dissents, the high court granted an emergency request by a group called People Not Politicians, which sought to block the new map.

NBC News explained further:

The decision puts on hold a decision by Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, who ruled on Tuesday that the new map must be used, notwithstanding the Missouri Supreme Court reaching the opposite conclusion.

The swift action from the justices likely signals the end of the battle over which congressional map to use in the midterm elections this November, with the state likely to use the previous map from 2022 that includes six seats currently held by Republicans and two held by Democrats.

The new map sought to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.

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“The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear, as was the Missouri Supreme Court,” von Glahn said in a statement.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican who led the effort to use the new map, “has shown that he cannot effectively do the job he was elected to do,” he added.

“A win for justice. A win for democracy. A win for the people of Missouri,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) commented.

“It is my hope that state officials will start following court orders and end this shameful attempt to break Missouri law and silence Missouri voters,” he added.

SCOTUSblog has more:

The dispute began last year, when – with President Donald Trump’s encouragement – Missouri adopted a new map, known as HB 1. In December, opponents of the state’s new map – including Richard von Glahn – submitted more than 300,000 signatures in support of a petition to put the new map up for a vote in November 2026. Missouri’s top election official, Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, rejected the petition on Aug. 4, 2026 – the last day to do so.

Von Glahn filed a lawsuit in state court on the same day, asking it to reverse Hoskins’ decision and block Missouri from using the new map. On Sept. 3, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously granted that request. It wrote that “the plain language of … the Missouri Constitution authorizes a referendum as to ‘any act of the general assembly’ and no exception applies.” Because the referendum petition “was legal, sufficient, and timely,” the court concluded, the new map was never in effect and will not go into effect “unless and until approved by the voters at the November 2026 general election.”

The Missouri Supreme Court deemed “wholly unpersuasive” Hoskins’ argument that the failure to use the new map would lead to “confusion, expense, and practical difficulties.” “[T]hese arguments are particularly misplaced given the secretary’s delay created” the problems about which he is now complaining, the court wrote.

Hoskins went to the Supreme Court last Friday night, asking the justices to step in. He said that the state was “genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election,” and he argued that the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution.

Von Glahn pushed back, arguing that the Supreme Court lacks the power to weigh in because the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling had rested only on state law – known as an “adequate and independent state-law” bar to Supreme Court review. But in any event, von Glahn continued, Hoskins’ federal constitutional arguments fall short on the merits.

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Kavanaugh turned down Hoskins’ request on Tuesday afternoon without referring it to the full court.

 

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