Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay a September 3 ruling from the Missouri Supreme Court concerning the state’s congressional districts. The emergency application, filed September 4 on behalf of Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, seeks to allow use of the map enacted in 2025 for the November 3 general election.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from the circuit that includes Missouri, directed the opposing party to respond by noon Eastern Time on September 7. The Missouri Supreme Court had earlier denied the state’s request to pause its own order pending the federal appeal.
In 2025 the Missouri General Assembly, meeting in a special session, passed House Bill 1 establishing new congressional district lines. That map was used for the August 2026 primary election, in which more than 1.2 million people voted.
Shortly after the bill became law, organizers submitted more than 300,000 signatures on a referendum petition asking voters to accept or reject the new districts. Secretary of State Hoskins later certified the petition as insufficient, concluding that the Missouri Constitution does not authorize a referendum on congressional redistricting legislation. A Cole County circuit court upheld that certification.
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🚨 Missouri has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to restore its 2025 congressional map for the midterms, arguing the state Supreme Court cannot switch the state back to its 2022 map for November after 1.2 million voters cast primary ballots under the 2025 districts. pic.twitter.com/LzA7OLMcFG
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 5, 2026
On September 3, the Missouri Supreme Court near unanimously reversed that decision. In an opinion by Judge Ginger K. Gooch, the court held that Article III, Section 49 of the state constitution subjects “any act of the general assembly” to referendum and that no applicable exception exists for congressional maps. The court found the petition legal, sufficient, and timely.
As a result, the 2025 map “did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.” The 2022 map therefore remains in force for the November general election, and the referendum question must appear on that ballot. If voters approve the 2025 map, it would take effect 30 days later.
“Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election. This unprecedented decision clearly violates federal law and has thrust our state into a full‑fledged constitutional crisis,” Hanaway said following the court’s decision.
“Our office will move immediately to seek relief from The Supreme Court of the United States. We are confident that the federal courts will not allow every Missouri voter to be disenfranchised—which is what today’s decision does.”
The state is arguing that the ruling conflicts with the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution and with principles that counsel against late changes to election rules. “No court in American history has ever given such an extraordinary remedy, which inflicts unprecedented chaos on Missouri. Looking backwards, the order renders a completed federal Primary Election utterly pointless—disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters who will now be moved into new districts and forced to vote for candidates they had no role in selecting,” the appeal filing reads in part.
The filing also notes that “the State is genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election.”
An update on the emergency application is expected by Monday evening.
