WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026, rejected a last-ditch effort by Missouri Republicans to use a newly drawn congressional map for this year’s midterm elections, NBC News reported.

In a brief order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh — who handles emergency requests from Missouri — the court left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that said the 2025 map could not be used while a ballot initiative that could lead to the map’s being tossed proceeds. The denial is an emergency-application order, not a full merits opinion.

The 2025 Republican redistricting plan, part of a Trump-prompted wave, was designed to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. Tuesday’s decision means the 2022 map — six Republican seats and two Democratic seats — remains in place for the midterms.

People Not Politicians Missouri gathered signatures for a state referendum that would veto the Legislature’s map and put it on hold for 2026. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins refused to put the measure on the ballot, arguing redistricting plans are not subject to voter override. The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously found the referendum petition “legal, sufficient and timely” and said Hoskins should not have rejected it; under state law, a valid override referendum automatically puts the law on hold until voters decide.

Hoskins argued at the U.S. Supreme Court that the state ruling violated the Elections Clause. The justices rejected a similar argument in a North Carolina redistricting case in 2023. Hoskins’ lawyers warned that reverting maps after the new map was used in the primary would render “hundreds of thousands” of primary votes “pointless”; referendum supporters called that a bid for a “political victory to which he was never entitled under the Missouri Constitution.”

Sources