This may be the first time a court has thrown out a congressional map after the primaries already were held using those maps. That would require a general election in different districts than the primaries. That is what the Missouri Supreme Court just did.
The Attorney General vows to go to SCOTUS:
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.
Our office will move immediately to seek relief from SCOTUS. We are confident that the federal courts will not allow every Missouri voter to be disenfranchised—which is what today’s decision does.
“A republic, if you can keep it.” – Benjamin Franklin
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…
— Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway (@AGCHanaway) September 3, 2026
The issue is whether a referendum against the map change had to be held before the final maps could be determined. So the Court ruled that despite the primaries being held, the referendum had to be on the ballot in November and only then could the new districts be used (for the next election). From The NY Times:
The Missouri Supreme Court cleared the way on Thursday for the state’s voters to decide in November whether to keep new congressional district boundaries redrawn to benefit Republicans.
The judges ruled unanimously that the old map would be used in the November general election, a decision that at least temporarily thwarts Republicans’ efforts to pick up a House seat in the Kansas City area.
Missouri’s primary election was held last month using the redrawn boundaries, and state election officials had vowed to forge ahead with using those borders in November unless explicitly told otherwise.
The seven judges did exactly that in their ruling, which came a day after oral arguments in the case and less than a week before the deadline to finalize the November ballot….
The court did not specify how candidates would be determined for a general election using the older borders since congressional nominees were selected using the redrawn ones….
Though the Missouri Supreme Court determined that it was legal for legislators to redraw the map, it also found that residents opposed to the boundaries had acted within the law when they submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures seeking a statewide referendum on the issue. The judges found that the redrawn map should have been suspended until a referendum could be held.
You can read the full Opinion here.
Under Missouri law, a referendum stays enforcement of an enacted law. So here, the referendum is staying the 2026 map. But the elections have already started. The current map has candidates running. Now those candidates must run in *different* districts than their primary win pic.twitter.com/KYHp2TOPIq
— Eric W. (@EWess92) September 3, 2026
In a lengthy footnote, the Court blames the Republicans for the problems caused by delay:
It’s not at all clear SCOTUS would take the case because it is a state court interpretation of the state constitution – similar to the Virginia case. BUT the big difference here is that the primaries were held in a federal election using different districts.
We shall see.
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