The fight over which congressional map Missouri will use in November is heading back to the Supreme Court, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh signaling Tuesday night that the justices will weigh in on the case for a third time, according to The Daily Wire.
The move follows a Monday decision by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals directing Missouri officials to use a map that would give Republicans an expected 7-1 advantage in the state’s House delegation. That ruling came after Kavanaugh had previously granted a request from a left-leaning group to block the GOP-friendly map.
The stakes are hardly abstract. With Republicans defending a narrow majority in the House, the difference between a 7-1 and 6-2 split in Missouri amounts to a single seat — and potentially the margin that decides which party controls the chamber next year.
Two Maps, Two Different Outcomes
At the center of the dispute are two maps drawn years apart. The 7-1 map was passed by the legislature in 2025 and used in the state’s primary election. The 6-2 map is an older version enacted in 2022 that the group People Not Politicians wants the state to adopt for the general election.
On Monday, the 8th Circuit sided with the newer map, ruling that it would be unconstitutional for Missouri to run its primary and general elections under different district lines. The court was blunt about its reasoning.
“This Court holds that Missouri’s current plan to use the 2022 map in the November 2026 general election violates the Constitution,” the panel wrote. “Only use of the 2025 map complies with the Constitution and federal law.”
The judges raised concerns about voters who cast ballots in the primary under one set of districts only to see the boundaries shift before the general election. Using the old map, the court said, would effectively disenfranchise those voters and create a situation in which some Missourians had more influence over their representation than others.
In the Fifth Congressional District, the court noted, a majority of residents would have had no say in who appeared on their November ballot. Those voters, the ruling said, would be forced to choose from nominees selected by a minority of residents in the district along with voters who no longer live within its borders.
Emergency Appeal and a Wednesday Deadline
People Not Politicians, which has been challenging the new map, filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court asking the justices to clarify what the appeals court’s latest decision means for the state. The group argued that the new boundaries should not take effect because early voting under the old map had already begun.
Kavanaugh responded by giving Missouri officials until 2 p.m. Wednesday to file a response to the appeal, teeing up what could be the third trip to the high court for the same dispute.
The case has bounced between courts for weeks, with conflicting orders leaving election officials and candidates uncertain about which districts they will ultimately be running in. The map backed by Republicans was designed to redraw a Kansas City-area seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, putting his district in play under the new lines.
The back-and-forth reflects a broader pattern this cycle, as states across the country have seen redistricting challenges pile up in federal court with the midterms approaching. Missouri’s situation is unusual for the sheer number of times the same maps have cycled through the appellate system and the Supreme Court in a matter of weeks.
For now, the 8th Circuit’s order stands, meaning the 7-1 map is set to govern the November election. But that could change quickly depending on how the Supreme Court responds to the emergency filing and whether the justices decide to intervene before ballots are cast.
The window for a final resolution is narrowing. Early voting has already started in some parts of the state, and any further changes to the map could complicate the administration of the election. That timing argument — that it may be too late to switch maps without disrupting voting — is central to the appeal now before the high court.
With Kavanaugh’s deadline set for Wednesday afternoon, a decision could come within days. Until then, Missouri’s congressional map remains contested, and the 7-1 advantage Republicans are counting on is not yet locked in.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/red-state-gets-another-chance-in-crazy-battle-over-midterm-maps