A Missouri court overturned a congressional map after a primary election, a first in U.S. history.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on September 4, asking justices to block a ruling that effectively scrapped the state’s newly drawn congressional districts just weeks before the November general election. The application was filed on behalf of Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and it asks the Court to allow the 2025 map to remain in place for the November 3 election.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who oversees emergency matters from Missouri’s circuit, ordered the opposing party to respond by noon Eastern Time on September 7.
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The dispute began when the Missouri General Assembly passed House Bill 1 during a special session in 2025, establishing new congressional district boundaries. That map was used in the August 2026 primary, where more than 1.2 million Missourians cast ballots. Shortly after the bill passed, petition organizers gathered more than 300,000 signatures requesting a public referendum on the new districts. Secretary of State Hoskins rejected the petition, ruling that the Missouri Constitution does not permit a referendum on congressional redistricting. A Cole County circuit court agreed.
As originally reported, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that decision on September 3, in a near-unanimous ruling authored 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 a referendum, with no exception for congressional maps. The court declared the petition legal, sufficient, and timely.
The immediate consequence is significant. The 2025 map, the court said, “did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.” That puts the older 2022 map back in force for November. Voters will also see the 2025 map as a referendum question on the November ballot. If approved, it takes effect 30 days after the vote.
Hanaway was direct in her response to the ruling. Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election,” she said, calling it a “full-fledged constitutional crisis” that violates federal law.
Her office’s emergency filing argues the ruling conflicts with the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause and with the legal principle that courts should avoid disrupting election rules close to an election. The filing described the ruling as rendering the already-completed primary “utterly pointless,” arguing that voters who participated will now be moved into different districts and face candidates they had no part in selecting.
The state also acknowledged operational uncertainty, noting it is “genuinely unsure” whether it can legally switch congressional maps in time to conduct a valid federal election.
An update on the emergency application was expected by Monday evening. The Missouri Supreme Court had already refused to pause its own ruling while the federal appeal moved forward.
