The ruling comes as a top Missouri official faces contempt proceedings for defying prior court orders.
Published On 10 Sep 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected yet another request from the Trump administration to implement Republican-favored congressional district maps in Missouri.
The court issued the order on Thursday without noting any dissents, effectively allowing Missouri to proceed with its existing map in the November midterms—a contest that will help determine control of the House of Representatives.
Contempt charges for Republican official
Missouri’s congressional redistricting fight has persisted for more than a year, creating ongoing confusion about which districts voters will actually use.
Thursday’s Supreme Court order came hours after a federal judge permitted Missouri’s highest court to move forward with a contempt hearing against Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
Missouri’s top court had previously ordered Hoskins to refrain from using the Trump-supported map in the general election and to rely instead on districts enacted after the most recent census.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark—also a Trump appointee—on Tuesday prohibited Hoskins from using any map other than the new one backed by Trump.
The state Supreme Court subsequently ordered Hoskins to appear at the Thursday contempt hearing for failing to comply with its directives and for directing local election officials to adopt the Trump-backed districts.
Attorneys for Hoskins asked Clark to pause the contempt hearing, but the judge refused.
Redistricting plans
Missouri was the second Republican-controlled state, following Texas, to adopt new districts after Trump urged fellow Republicans last year to redraw House lines to their advantage before the midterms.
The redrawn districts specifically target a Kansas City-area seat held by Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver, carving out portions into neighboring districts and extending the remainder into rural Republican-leaning areas. Republicans aim to flip seven of the state’s eight House seats—a net gain of one.
Opponents of the redistricting plan gathered hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to force a statewide vote. They filed the signatures in December, but Hoskins waited until August—coinciding with Missouri’s primary—to reject the petition, arguing that referendums cannot be used for congressional redistricting.
The delay allowed Missouri to use the new districts for its August primary. Republican state officials have argued that switching districts before the general election would violate voters’ federal rights.
However, the Missouri Supreme Court last week ordered Hoskins to place the redistricting referendum on the November ballot—which he did. The court also ruled that the new districts never took effect and were suspended retroactively to the December petition filing.
The state then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the state court’s rulings. Justice Kavanaugh rejected the request.
The Supreme Court barred Hoskins from using the new map and ruled that the old map—passed by Republican legislators in 2022 following the last census—must be used in November. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal of that ruling, but Clark issued a conflicting order shortly afterward.
