Supreme Court blocks Missouri’s GOP-friendly congressional map for midterms

The Supreme Court rejected Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins's emergency request to use new congressional maps drawn to give Republicans seven of eight House seats, after the state's own supreme court found a voter referendum had suspended those maps pending a public vote. Justice Kavanaugh denied the appeal alone, without explanation, meaning Missouri will use its 2020-era districts for the November general election despite having already used the new map in the August primary.

Hoskins had rejected over 300,000 referendum petition signatures, arguing the state constitution barred referendums on congressional maps, and won at a lower court before losing at the Missouri Supreme Court. Missouri argued the switch would disenfranchise voters and make its own primary meaningless; referendum organizer Richard von Glahn countered that Hoskins engineered the timing crunch himself by waiting to object.

The ruling continues a pattern of the Supreme Court intervening inconsistently across states this year, backing GOP maps in Texas and New York while allowing Democratic maps to fall in Virginia and stand in California.

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