Missouri Attorney General Appeals to Supreme Court Over Republican-Leaning Redistricting Map

Missouri’s attorney general filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday, seeking to permit the use of a newly redrawn congressional map for the upcoming November elections. The map, designed to favor Republican candidates, was recently challenged in state court.

The petition from Republican attorney Catherine Hanaway follows a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court, which declared the map used during last month’s primary elections invalid. The state court determined that voters should have been granted the opportunity to vote on the new district boundaries through a referendum.

The state court’s decision has created uncertainty regarding whether Missouri can conduct a general election using a map that differs from the one utilized during the primaries. Currently, the ruling has stalled Republican efforts to secure an additional House seat in the Kansas City region.

Hanaway urged the Supreme Court justices to overturn the state court’s decision, arguing that the ruling “inflicts unprecedented chaos on Missouri.” She contended that the decision would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of citizens by forcing them into new districts and compelling them to vote for candidates they did not help select.

“The State is genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election,” Hanaway stated in her Friday filing.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who oversees emergency requests from Missouri, has established an expedited review schedule, requesting that challengers submit their responses by noon on Monday.

The controversial map was drawn outside the standard redistricting cycle following a request from President Trump, as part of a strategic move to bolster Republican chances of maintaining control of the House during the 2026 midterm elections.

Adopted by the state legislature in September 2025, the new boundaries split the core of Kansas City, Missouri’s largest city, into several different districts. This maneuver appears intended to unseat Representative Emanuel Cleaver, one of only two Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation. Notably, the new map leaves the other Democratic-held district in the St. Louis area largely intact.

Last year, Democrats and concerned residents began a massive signature-collection effort to trigger a referendum on the new boundaries. However, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, declined to place the issue on the November ballot, maintaining that redistricting is not legally subject to voter referendums.

Opponents of the redistricting filed lawsuits alleging that mid-decade boundary changes violate the Missouri Constitution. Democratic allies have also sought to mandate a referendum, arguing that the state should revert to previous boundaries until a public vote is held.

Missouri officials have countered that redistricting, unlike other legislative acts, is ineligible for referendum under state law. They had indicated an intention to implement the new boundaries unless prevented by judicial intervention.

On September 3, the Missouri Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision stating that the referendum on the new lines had been improperly excluded from the November ballot. The court ruled that the redrawn map should have been suspended until voters had the chance to decide on the boundaries.

“The redrawn map did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters,” wrote Judge Ginger K. Gooch, a Republican appointee. She further noted that the previous map “remains in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election.”

In her Friday appeal, the Missouri attorney general argued that the state court’s decision would disenfranchise voters in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause and other election-related legal provisions.

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