WASHINGTON – The all-out redistricting fight in Missouri has returned to the U.S. Supreme Court for the second time, with opponents of a new GOP-drawn congressional map urgently asking the justices to prevent its use in the midterm elections. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block the state court’s ruling. But in a separate case, a federal court ruled Tuesday that the new map must be used to prevent violations of the U.S. Constitution, raising questions that were not raised to the U.S. Supreme Court in the state case. The Missouri Supreme Court also opened a contempt investigation into Secretary of State Denny Hoskins. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning. All of this will unfold after Tuesday’s deadline to finalize Missouri ballots ahead of this fall’s election. The first votes will be cast in the state on September 19. In the new filing with the U.S. Supreme Court, filed by a group called People Not Politicians, led by activist Richard von Glahn, lawyers said the federal judge’s ruling is in “direct conflict” with the state Supreme Court. Hoskins has made clear that “election officials will continue to implement a congressional map that Missouri’s highest court has deemed not to be and never has been law,” they wrote. Missouri-based U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark ruled Tuesday that the state must use the map on which people voted during the primary. The St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to stay that ruling. Separately, the Missouri Supreme Court issued an order asking Hoskins, a Republican, to explain “why he should not be held in contempt” for violating last week’s ruling that said the state cannot use the new map. Despite the ruling, Hoskins has continued to push for use of the new map. The court also ordered Hoskins to appear in person at Thursday’s hearing. Hoskins indicated in a post on X that he would not back down. “I look forward to my day in court,” he said. A congressional map that Missouri Republicans enacted in 2025, part of a nationwide redistricting effort led by President Donald Trump, sought to eliminate one of the state’s two Democratic-held seats, currently held by Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver. If the Missouri Supreme Court ruling remains in effect, a map drawn in 2022, with six seats held by Republicans and two seats held by Democrats, would be in effect for the general election. The legal fight began when von Glahn’s group gathered signatures in support of a state referendum that would undo the GOP-drawn map and put it on hold for the 2026 elections. But Hoskins refused to put the measure on the ballot. arguing that redistricting plans are not subject to voter approval. The Missouri Supreme Court, which has a majority of Republican appointees, disagreed, saying there was nothing in state law that exempted congressional maps approved by the Legislature from being vetoed by voters through the referendum process.
