Supreme Court blocks Trump-backed Missouri congressional map for November election

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked Missouri from using a Republican-backed congressional map in the November midterm election, requiring the state to return to district boundaries used in 2022 and 2024.

In an unsigned opinion with no noted dissents, the justices halted lower federal court orders that had reinstated the map adopted by Missouri’s Republican-led legislature in 2025. The court said changing maps after absentee voting had begun and ballots had been mailed “would usher in electoral chaos.”

The 2025 map, which Missouri used for its August primary, was drawn to give Republicans an opportunity to win seven of the state’s eight U.S. House seats, up from the six they currently hold. It substantially reshaped the Kansas City-area district represented by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.

Missouri’s Supreme Court ruled earlier in September that the new map could not take effect unless voters approved it in a November referendum triggered by a citizen petition. Republicans then challenged the use of the older boundaries in federal court, arguing that switching maps between the primary and general election raised constitutional problems. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the 2025 map restored before the Supreme Court intervened.

Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe said he was disappointed that Missouri would use a different map in the general election than in the primary, but said the state would comply with the ruling.