Missouri voters were left Wednesday without a clear answer about which congressional districts will be used in November after two courts issued conflicting orders over a new Republican-backed map enacted last year and aimed at giving the GOP another U.S. House seat.
Within minutes Tuesday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected Missouri’s attempt to use the new map, only for a federal judge in St. Louis to temporarily require the state to use it.
At the center of the dispute is the Kansas City-based district represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, one of Missouri’s two Black members of Congress. The new boundaries were drawn to make Cleaver’s district more favorable to Republicans, who already hold six of the state’s eight congressional seats.
The new map made only minor changes to the St. Louis-area district represented by Wesley Bell, Missouri’s other Black member of Congress.
The legal whiplash comes less than two months before the Nov. 3 election and after Missouri voters already nominated congressional candidates in August using the new districts.
Kavanaugh acted first Tuesday, denying an emergency request from Missouri officials to put on hold a unanimous Missouri Supreme Court ruling that said the new map could not take effect unless voters approve it in November.
Kavanaugh gave no reason for his decision and did not refer the request to the full U.S. Supreme Court.
Shortly afterward, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark ordered Missouri to use the new districts for now, despite the state Supreme Court ruling requiring use of the 2022 map. Clark was acting in a separate lawsuit brought by Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Onder, state Sen. Rick Brattin and two voters. They argued that switching districts after voters had already cast primary ballots under the new map would violate their federal rights.
The result is two conflicting court orders. Missouri officials say they are following Clark’s order and using the new districts while his ruling is challenged in federal appeals court.
The conflict quickly returned to the Missouri Supreme Court. After Hoskins directed local election officials to use the 2025 map, the court ordered him to explain by noon Wednesday why he should not be held in contempt for violating its order barring use of that map. Hoskins also was ordered to appear before the court Thursday morning.
Clark wrote that changing maps between the primary and general elections could harm voters by forcing some to choose among candidates they had no role in nominating.
“Disenfranchising voters across the state and denying them their constitutional right to have their primary votes counted significantly harm the public interest,” Clark wrote.
Secretary of State Denny Hoskins quickly embraced Clark’s ruling, saying it “halts a full-on constitutional crisis” by allowing voters to cast ballots in the same districts used during the August primary.
Opponents of the new map argue that state officials created the problem by waiting until primary day to reject a petition seeking a public vote on the districts.
People Not Politicians Missouri submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December seeking a statewide referendum. Hoskins rejected the petition Aug. 4, contending that congressional redistricting could not be challenged through Missouri’s referendum process.
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously disagreed last week, ruling that the petition was valid and submitted on time.
Because of the referendum, the court concluded, the 2025 map never legally took effect. It ordered the state to conduct the November election using the 2022 map — the boundaries used in the 2022 and 2024 general elections.
“An individual federal judge cannot overrule the Missouri Supreme Court,” Chuck Hatfield, an attorney for People Not Politicians, said after Clark’s ruling.
The group quickly appealed Clark’s order to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
For now, Missouri election officials are proceeding under Clark’s order and using the 2025 districts. But the continuing appeals mean the question of which map will govern the November election remains unsettled.
Voters also will decide the fate of the new boundaries themselves when the referendum appears on the Nov. 3 ballot as Proposition A.
The Republican-controlled legislature approved the new districts during a special session last year after President Donald Trump urged Missouri and other Republican-led states to redraw congressional boundaries before the 2026 midterm elections.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.