The US Supreme Court on Friday blocked Missouri from returning to its 2025 congressional map, with no dissents noted. The midterm election proceeds on the 2022 map, under which Republicans hold 6 of the 8 seats and Democrats 2. The court wrote that changing the map while voting is under way would usher in electoral chaos. The 2025 map would have eliminated Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver's seat.
The US Supreme Court on Friday blocked Missouri from returning to its 2025 congressional map and ordered the state to use its 2022 map for the 2026 midterm. The order noted no dissents. Under the 2022 map, Republicans hold 6 of Missouri's 8 congressional seats and Democrats hold 2. A dissent is the separate opinion of justices who disagree with a ruling; no justice objected to this one.[1], [2]
The court wrote that changing the map while voting is under way would usher in electoral chaos. Missouri has started sending ballots to military and overseas voters, and some absentee voting began on Tuesday. The unsigned order followed the Missouri Supreme Court's 3 September holding that the 2022 map had to be used. Absentee voting lets a voter cast a ballot before election day, by post or at designated places.[1]
The 2025 map would have eliminated the Democratic seat held by Representative Emanuel Cleaver. Staying on the 2022 map means that seat exists in the midterm. NBC News reports the order as the third time the Supreme Court has rejected the Republican push to redraw Missouri. With the 2025 map, Republicans aimed to cut Missouri's Democratic seats from two to one.[1]
