WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, blocked Missouri’s attempt to run the midterms on a newly drawn Republican congressional map, granting an emergency stay sought by People Not Politicians and activist Richard von Glahn, NBC News reported.

In a brief unsigned order with no noted dissents, the Court stayed U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark’s temporary restraining order that had required the state to use the 2025 remap. Per SCOTUSblog’s docket notes on People Not Politicians v. Onder (26A326), Justice Brett Kavanaugh referred the application to the full Court, which granted the stay of the Eastern District of Missouri’s Sept. 8, 2026 order in case No. 4:26-cv-1424 pending Eighth Circuit appeal and any timely certiorari petition.

The stay leaves the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling in effect: the 2022 map — six Republican seats and two Democratic seats — is the map for November. The 2025 remap sought to eliminate the Democratic seat held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. First ballots are set to go out Sept. 19.

This is a second U.S. Supreme Court trip in the same fight this week — not a recirculation of Tuesday’s order. On Tuesday, Justice Kavanaugh rejected Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’ emergency bid (Hoskins v. von Glahn, 26A304) to undo the state high court’s hold. After that denial, Clark’s TRO briefly put the new map back on track; Thursday’s stay puts Clark’s order on ice.

The Trump administration filed a brief backing Hoskins, arguing that blocking Clark’s ruling would “jeopardize state officials’ ability to conduct a timely and lawful federal election,” NBC reported. Hoskins’ lawyers told the justices minutes before the decision that only Clark’s order was “preventing the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters” who cast primary ballots under the new map.

Von Glahn said in a statement: “The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear, as was the Missouri Supreme Court,” and argued Hoskins “has shown that he cannot effectively do the job he was elected to do.” Separately Thursday, the Missouri Supreme Court was set to hold an ~11 a.m. ET contempt hearing for Hoskins over alleged defiance of its prior map ruling — a state-court track parallel to the federal emergency docket.

Emergency stays that pick which map counts — after a state high court, a federal TRO, and a second SCOTUS trip in three days — are concentrated power over who gets to draw House seats. The open record for Thursday is an unsigned stay, no noted dissents, and the 2022 lines back for November unless a later court move changes course.

Insanity Developing previously covered Tuesday’s Hoskins denial and Hoskins’ contempt show-cause fight; Thursday’s 26A326 stay is the new order.

Sources