September 10, 2026 Story by: Publisher
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Missouri’s attempt to use a newly drawn congressional map in the 2026 elections, delivering another setback to state officials seeking to implement the map before November.
The justices granted an emergency request by the map’s challengers to suspend a federal judge’s decision that allowed only the reconfigured boundaries to be used in the November 3 elections.
The decision leaves the map’s legal status unresolved as challenges continue through the federal courts.
The dispute centers on whether Missouri can replace its existing congressional districts with a map that could significantly reshape the state’s congressional delegation.
Eighth Circuit denies stay in challenge to Missouri congressional map (September 9, 2026)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Wednesday, September 9, denied a request to halt a federal district court order involving Missouri’s congressional redistricting plan.
The three-judge panel said it either lacked jurisdiction over the appeal or that the parties had not shown that the legal requirements for a stay had been met.
The court also denied a request for summary reversal and ruled that a separate request for an administrative stay was moot.
The order, entered Sept. 9, comes as litigation continues over Missouri’s congressional map and the state’s mid-decade redistricting dispute.
The Missouri Redistricting Referendum case has returned to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Challengers have submitted an emergency application for a stay and an administrative stay pending appeal.
The redistricting challengers return to the SCOTUS to overturn a lower court ruling against them that came minutes after Justice Kavanaugh’s ruling.
Federal district court revives Missouri’s congressional map (September 8, 2026)
A federal district court has temporarily revived Missouri’s newly drawn congressional map, creating another major turn in the ongoing legal dispute over which boundaries will be used for the 2026 general election.
The decision came shortly after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined to intervene in the case, leaving a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that had blocked the map in place.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark ordered Missouri to use the new congressional boundaries, arguing that switching back to the previous map after candidates had participated in the August primary could create significant confusion and disrupt the November election.
“Using a different map for the general election would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri’s congressional elections, calling into question the candidacy of those nominated in the primaries and the votes of those who voted in the primaries. Widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow,” Judge Stephen Clark wrote.
Clark, a St. Louis-based Trump appointee, said two Republican candidates who sued were likely to prevail in their arguments that changing the district lines at this point in the process would violate two provisions in the U.S. Constitution: one establishing the House of Representatives and another guaranteeing equal protection of the laws.
Lawyers for state officials warned in their appeal to the Supreme Court that the state faced “disaster” and “unprecedented chaos” in part because primaries already took place under the new lines last month.
The competing court rulings have left Missouri’s congressional districts in legal uncertainty just weeks before the November election.
The Missouri Supreme Court previously ruled that the new map could not be used for the general election unless it is approved through a statewide referendum, while the federal district court has now ordered the state to proceed with the new boundaries, at least temporarily.
Missouri’s Supreme Court has summoned Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to appear Thursday, September 10, over his direction to counties to use the 7R-1D congressional map.
Hoskins has asked a federal district court to block the Missouri Supreme Court from holding him in contempt for defying the court’s order stopping the use of a gerrymandered map.
Supreme Court rejects request to use new Missouri congressional map in 2026 (September 8, 2026 )
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, September 8, rejected a request to immediately use a newly drawn congressional map in Missouri for the 2026 elections. The decision leaves the existing congressional boundaries in place for the upcoming election while the legal and electoral process surrounding the new map continues.
The ruling is significant because the proposed map would substantially alter several congressional districts, including the Kansas City-area district represented by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. The new boundaries are expected to remain an important issue as Missouri moves toward the November election.
The decision was issued by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency cases rising from parts of the Midwest. Kavanaugh did not explain his reasoning, and there were no dissents.
Missouri Supreme Court blocks newly drawn congressional map ahead of 2026 general election (September 4, 2026)
The Missouri Supreme Court has unanimously blocked the state’s Republican-drawn congressional map from being used in the November 2026 general election, ruling that the map cannot take effect unless Missouri voters approve it in a statewide referendum.
The Sept. 3 decision reverses a major development from earlier this year and means the congressional boundaries drawn following the 2020 census will remain in effect for the November election.
The dispute centers on House Bill 1, which Missouri Republicans passed in September 2025 and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe signed into law. The legislation repealed the congressional map adopted after the 2020 census and created a new map that significantly altered the Kansas City area.
The new map dismantled the Kansas City-based 5th Congressional District represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver and created a more Republican-friendly configuration.
The states’ Supreme Court’s latest ruling focused not on whether the new map itself violated Missouri’s constitutional redistricting requirements, but on whether voters had successfully exercised their constitutional right to challenge the legislation through a referendum.
A citizen group, People Not Politicians, submitted more than 300,000 signatures seeking to place the redistricting law before voters. Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins had rejected the referendum petition, arguing that Missouri’s Constitution did not permit a referendum on congressional redistricting legislation. The Supreme Court disagreed.
In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that Missouri’s Constitution authorizes a referendum on “any act of the general assembly” and contains no exception for congressional redistricting.
The justices therefore ordered Hoskinsto certify the referendum and place it on the November ballot.
The court did not permanently invalidate HB 1. It ruled that HB 1 did not take effect and cannot be implemented unless Missouri voters approve it.
Missouri has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore its 7R-1D congressional map for the midterms, noting that primaries have already taken place under the new districts.
The state is requesting a ruling on its stay request by Monday, September 14.
Missouri Supreme Court upholds special session used for congressional redistricting (May 27, 2026)
The Supreme Court of Missouri ruled in favor of Gov. Mike Kehoe in NAACP v. Kehoe, upholding the legality of the special legislative session used to redraw the state’s congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections. The court’s decision allows Missouri’s Republican-backed congressional map to remain in place.
The lawsuit, brought by the NAACP and other plaintiffs, challenged whether the governor had constitutional authority to call lawmakers into a special session for redistricting outside the normal census process. The ruling marks a significant victory for Missouri Republicans as legal battles over congressional maps continue nationwide ahead of the midterm elections.
The Missouri Supreme Court hears oral argument in NAACP v Kehoe
The Missouri Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Wednesday, May 27 in NAACP v. Kehoe, a closely watched lawsuit challenging Missouri’s congressional redistricting map. The case was brought by the NAACP and other plaintiffs who argue the map unlawfully dilutes Black voting strength and undermines minority representation in the state.
The legal challenge centers on Missouri’s congressional boundaries adopted after the 2020 Census, particularly districts in the Kansas City and St. Louis regions. Plaintiffs contend the map violates constitutional protections and weakens the political influence of Black voters, while state officials argue the districts comply with state and federal law.
NAACP lawsuit
The NAACP filed a lawsuit in Cole County Circuit Court seeking to block Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe’s special legislative session, arguing that it is unconstitutional and poses a threat to the voting rights of Black residents.
Filed on September 3, 2025, the lawsuit asserts that Kehoe’s convening of the special session is not justified under the Missouri Constitution. It further contends that the proposed redistricting plan would fragment Black political influence, particularly within the Kansas City area, effectively diluting the community’s electoral power.
“Our communities already face systemic barriers to full participation in our democracy,” said Nimrod T. Chapel Jr., President of the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP. “This attempt to redraw maps behind closed doors and outside of regular order is nothing more than an attack on Black Missourians’ ability to elect leaders who reflect and respect their needs. We will use every tool at our disposal to stop it.”
The NAACP, in partnership with the Missouri State Conference of the NAACP, is challenging the state’s effort to convene a special legislative session aimed at redrawing political maps in a manner that would weaken the voting power of Black Missourians.
The lawsuit marks the first legal challenge against the special session convened by Gov. Mike Kehoe to redraw the state’s congressional map and splinter Kansas City to create a 7-1 Republican-dominated map.
The map proposed by Kehoe and Missouri Republicans would carve up Kansas City and splinter votes from the 5th Congressional district into the 4th and 6th districts, lumping together urban voters into more rural districts currently held by Republicans.
The Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments in NAACP v Kehoe tomorrow, May 27, 2026.
Plaintiffs in the Lawsuit
The lawsuit names Governor Kehoe and other state officials as defendants and seeks an injunction to prevent the special session from proceeding. The NAACP is joined in the lawsuit by two individual plaintiffs: Patricia Jones, a Kansas City resident, and Traci Wilson Kleekamp, a Columbia resident. The plaintiffs argue that the redistricting plan would directly harm their ability to participate in the political process and dilute their votes.
Missouri Supreme Court upholds state’s redistricting plan
The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 12, upheld the state’s Republican-backed congressional map in a unanimous 7-0 ruling, allowing the redistricting plan targeting U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district to remain in place ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The ruling rejected multiple legal challenges arguing that the newly drawn districts violated the Missouri Constitution’s requirements for compactness and contiguous territory.
In the court’s ruling, the justices voted unanimously to allow the 2025 congressional map to remain in effect, including a separate decision rejecting efforts to freeze implementation of the map while referendum signatures are reviewed.
The map redraw dramatically reshaped Missouri’s 5th Congressional District, currently represented by Emanuel Cleaver, by extending the Kansas City-based district more than 200 miles through rural Republican-leaning counties in an effort to make the seat more competitive for the GOP.
Chief Justice Powell, writing for the court, said challengers failed to prove the map “clearly and undoubtedly” violated constitutional standards. The court also pointed to evidence presented during trial that the new map reduced county and municipal splits compared to prior district configurations.
The decision comes amid a broader national battle over congressional redistricting following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which weakened protections tied to majority-Black districts under the Voting Rights Act. Republican-led states including Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and Missouri have since moved to redraw congressional maps in hopes of strengthening the GOP’s narrow U.S. House majority before the 2026 elections.
Missouri Supreme Court
The Missouri Supreme Court meet on Tuesday, May 12, 2026 to hear oral arguments in several high-profile lawsuits challenging the state’s 2025 congressional map.
At the heart of the debate is the “Missouri First” map, a Republican-backed plan passed during a special legislative session that significantly alters district boundaries.
The primary legal question before the justices is whether the Missouri Constitution permits mid-decade redistricting, which is the act of redrawing district lines more than once per decade without new federal census data. The court’s decision in these consolidated cases will determine the final boundaries for Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats ahead of the 2026 election cycle.
Supreme Court of Missouri issued a ruling upholding the state’s current congressional redistricting map
The Supreme Court of Missouri issued a ruling on Tuesday, March 24, upholding the state’s current congressional redistricting map. The map clears the way for the 2026 midterm elections and handing a significant legal victory to the GOP-controlled legislature.
In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that a clause in the state Constitution directing Missouri lawmakers to draw new maps after each census does not impose restrictions on the Legislature from taking up redistricting in the middle of the decade.
The court affirmed that the Legislature did not violate the state’s Constitution when it drew new congressional maps last year favoring Republicans, delivering a major blow to Democrats’ hopes of blocking the new map ahead of the midterms.
Missouri’s new map, which would net the GOP one additional seat by breaking up Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-based seat faced little resistance in the Legislature and was quickly approved by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.
The legal battle, Healey v. Missouri, centered on the map drawn by the Republican-controlled General Assembly following the 2020 Census. Plaintiffs argued that the map was a partisan gerrymander designed to secure a 6-2 advantage for Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation.
A primary point of contention involved the splitting of specific counties and the shifting of boundaries in the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas. Challengers contended that the map-makers ignored the “communities of interest” provision in the Missouri Constitution by dividing suburban areas into multiple districts to favor GOP incumbents.
Referendum on Missouri’s new congressional districts
Cole County Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe ordered a revision on Friday, March 20, of the ballot summary for a potential referendum on Missouri’s new congressional districts. The ruling follows a legal challenge by the group People Not Politicians, which argued that the original summary drafted by Secretary of State Denny Hoskins contained biased and argumentative language.
The judge ordered the removal of phrases that described the state’s current districts as “gerrymandered” and as “protecting incumbent politicians,” noting that the Secretary’s office conceded during the proceedings that such terms were unfair.
While the court struck down language claiming the new map “better reflects statewide voting patterns,” it allowed other descriptions to remain, such as the assertion that the new districts are “more compact” and “keep more cities and counties intact.”
The redistricting plan at the center of the dispute was passed by the General Assembly in 2025 and is designed to favor Republican candidates by redrawing boundaries in the Kansas City area.
Original version:
Do the people of the state of Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled “House Bill No. 1 (2025 Second Extraordinary Session),” which repeals Missouri’s existing gerrymandered congressional plan that protects incumbent politicians, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more cities and counties intact, are more compact, and better reflect statewide voting patterns?
Revised version:
Do the people of the state of Missouri approve the act of the General Assembly entitled “House Bill No. 1 (2025 Second Extraordinary Session),” which repeals Missouri’s congressional plan, and replaces it with new congressional boundaries that keep more cities and counties intact, and are more compact?
The referendum’s appearance on the November 2026 ballot remains pending as election officials continue to verify whether opponents gathered the required number of valid signatures.
Background
A Jackson County judge on Thursday, March 12 issued a pivotal ruling on the constitutionality of the congressional map, just days after the Missouri Supreme Court (Luther v Hoskins) began hearing oral arguments regarding the controversial shift. The lower court judge ruled that Missouri’s congressional district maps, which were redrawn in 2025, are constitutional.
Plaintiffs in this case asked the court to declare the 2022 congressional maps as the legally operative map for the 2026 elections in Missouri.
The judge upheld the redrawn maps, ruling they did not violate the Missouri constitution.
“Plaintiffs failed to meet the heavy burden required under Missouri law,” the judge wrote in the decision. “Plaintiffs failed to prove clearly and undoubtedly that the 2025 Plan was not as compact as may be.”
The decision means the map Missouri lawmakers drew in 2025, which redrew the boundaries of the state’s eight congressional districts, will remain in effect unless overturned on appeal.
Governor Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 1 into law in late September, enacting a new congressional map poised to grant Republicans a 7‑to‑1 edge in the state’s U.S. House delegation. Alongside the redistricting changes, the legislation drastically alters the state’s ballot initiative process, making it much harder for voters to pass citizen-led amendments.
The newly passed map fractures parts of Kansas City’s 5th District by splitting Black communities across multiple districts and merging them with Republican‑leaning areas. The map will eliminate one of Missouri’s few reliably Democratic districts, weakening representation for Black voters.
The Missouri Senate voted 21-11 on earlier this month to pass legislation that will redraw the state’s congressional districts.
The redistricting plan will break up the Fifth Congressional District currently represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
Kansas City will be split among three separate districts.
The Supreme Court hearing: A “Mid-Decade” dispute
The lower court’s decision has accelerated the timeline for the Missouri Supreme Court, which held oral arguments on March 10. The core of the legal dispute rests on whether the Republican-led legislature had the authority to redraw maps mid-decade, rather than waiting for the 2030 census.
Attorneys representing the state argued that the legislature maintains the sovereign right to correct “population imbalances” at any time. However, plaintiffs—including civil rights organizations and voters from the 5th District—argued that the move was a “purely partisan power grab” designed to secure a 7-to-1 Republican advantage in Missouri’s eight-seat U.S. House delegation.
Missouri’s revised map targets a seat held by U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D‑Kansas City) by shaving off portions of his Kansas City district and stretching the rest of it into Republican-heavy rural areas. The plan reduces the number of Black and minority residents in Cleaver’s district, partly by creating a dividing line along a street that Cleaver said had been a historical segregation line between Black and white residents.
Cleaver, who was Kansas City’s first Black mayor, has served in Congress for over 20 years. He won reelection with over 60% of the vote in both 2024 and 2022 under districts adopted by the Republican-led state Legislature after the 2020 census.
Arguing for the plaintiffs, attorney Chuck Hatfield said he was asking the court to uphold the plain language of the Missouri Constitution when it comes to redistricting.
“It’s important to read the whole of section 45. It starts with the census of 1950, when the census of 1950 is certified to the governor, but then it says, ‘And at each census thereafter, the General Assembly shall conduct its redistricting.’ It is undisputed,” Hatfield said.
Hatfield argued that means allowing redistricting only once a decade.
“The whole idea is tethered to the census data. You must do it at the census, and you only do it at the census,” Hatfield said.
Representing the state, Solicitor General Lou Capozzi said the Missouri Constitution is silent on the topic of mid-decade redistricting.
“This court has long held that the General Assembly has the power to act unless the Missouri Constitution expressly takes a particular power away,” Capozzi said.
Capozzi agreed with Hatfield that the legislature does have a duty to redistrict after a census.
“But that’s all the language does. That’s all it says. It simply says nothing about whether mid-decade redistricting is possible,” Capozzi said.
Missouri Senate panel advances map; U.S. Rep Emanuel Cleaver’s testimony
A Missouri Senate subcommittee moved forward a redistricting plan that will reshape the state’s Black Democratic districts.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Kansas City), whose Fifth Congressional District would be dramatically altered under the proposal, traveled to Jefferson City last year to testify before the Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee. Cleaver warned lawmakers that the map is a partisan effort to weaken Black voting strength and shift power toward Republican candidates.
Despite Cleaver’s objections, the committee approved the redistricting plan in a 6‑2 party‑line vote. It had already passed in the Missouri House and will now go to the full Senate for debate.
Under the new map, parts of Cleaver’s 5th District in Kansas City and Jackson County would be split and merged into the 4th and 6th Districts. At the same time, heavily Republican areas along the Missouri River would be added to remaining portions of Kansas City.
Cleaver said polling in his district indicates strong opposition to the redistricting map. “This is immensely unpopular,” he told legislators, adding that he intends to run again regardless of the outcome.
Missouri House of Representatives
The Missouri House of Representatives passed a new congressional map dubbed the Missouri First Map that redraws the state’s political terrain. The Missouri House gave final approval to both proposals Tuesday after two days of contentious debate.
The Missouri House approved the Republican-backed congressional map in a 90–65 vote, splitting the Democratic-leaning 5th District, currently held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D), into three different districts. The redraw is expected to bolster Republicans, potentially turning seven of Missouri’s eight seats in the U.S. House GOP-controlled.
The House voted 89-63 Monday night to adopt Rep. Dirk Deaton’s legislation, which would link a portion of Cleaver’s Kansas City-based district to a number of largely rural counties. It would also place other parts of the state’s largest city into the districts of Reps. Mark Alford and Sam Graves, put all of St. Charles County into Rep. Bob Onder’s 3rd District and add part of Jefferson County and all of Washington, Gasconade and Crawford counties to Rep. Ann Wagner’s 2nd District.
The two bills now move to the Republican-led Senate, where procedural resistance—like filibusters—is expected from Democrats.
If passed, Republicans may invoke seldom-used rules to force a vote, deepening partisan tensions.
The Missouri Constitution allows for a referendum. If opponents of the new congressional lines can get a little over 100,000 signatures in six out of eight congressional districts within 90 days, Deaton’s bill can’t go into effect until after there’s a statewide vote on the proposal.
Bills that have what’s known as an emergency clause that go into effect upon the governor’s signature can’t be placed up for a referendum. But emergency clauses require 109 votes in the House, and Deaton’s bill received 89 votes. And because Republicans only have 107 members and no Democrats are expected to vote for the new map on final passage, the referendum route is one possible pathway to keep Cleaver’s district safe going into the 2026 election cycle.
Targeting the 5th District
The new map fractures the urban core of Kansas City—once unified under one district with a large portion of the city’s Black community placed in Rep. Mark Alford’s 4th District. The new map divides it across rural and suburban territories. This move significantly weakens the influence of the Black community.
It would also place the western part of Kansas City in Rep. Mark Alford’s 4th District and all of Clay County in Rep. Sam Graves’ 6th District.
In the St. Louis region, St. Charles County would be completely in Rep. Bob Onder’s 3rd District, while Rep. Ann Wagner’s 2nd District would take in parts of Jefferson County and all of Gasconade, Crawford and Washington counties.
Source: Associated Press / Democracy Docket / Kansas City Star / KCUR / Missouri Independent / NAACP / NBC News / Politico / STLPR
