Missouri asked the U.S. Supreme Court late Friday to let it use a Republican-backed congressional map in November’s midterm elections, warning that a state court order requiring an older map after more than 1 million voters cast primary ballots under the new districts would create election chaos.
The emergency filing from Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins asks the justices to pause a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that blocked House Bill 1, the congressional map adopted by the Republican-led Legislature in 2025 and used in the August primary.
The state’s filing says the ruling would force Missouri to revert to its 2022 congressional districts for the Nov. 3 general election unless voters approve the new map in a statewide referendum.
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“A federal-election-administration disaster is unfolding in Missouri,” the state wrote in its application, arguing that no court in American history has ordered a congressional map changed after a completed primary and before a general election.
President Donald Trump criticized the ruling, calling it “horrible, ridiculous, and unConstitutional” and saying “Missouri must be able to use the map that was in effect just a couple of months ago, in the Primary.”
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the state constitution permits a referendum on the redistricting law because the referendum provision applies to “any act of the general assembly” and no exception covers congressional redistricting. The court ordered Hoskins to certify the petition, place the measure on the November ballot and stop using the 2025 map unless voters approve it.
Opponents of the 2025 map, including referendum proponent Richard von Glahn and the group People Not Politicians, submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December seeking to put the map before voters. Hoskins rejected the petition Aug. 4, the same day Missouri held its primary, saying the state constitution did not authorize referendums on congressional redistricting plans passed by the General Assembly.
Missouri’s application argues the state high court’s order violates the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives state legislatures authority over congressional election rules. The state says the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed statewide referendums on congressional maps but has not approved allowing a petition signed by a small share of voters to suspend a legislatively enacted map before the statewide vote occurs.
The filing also argues that changing maps now would dilute or nullify primary votes because about 1.2 million Missourians cast ballots under the 2025 districts. Hundreds of thousands of voters could be assigned to different congressional districts for November and asked to choose among nominees they had no role in selecting, the state said.
State lawyers also raised timing concerns. They said county officials would need to reassign voters, redesign and test ballots and print new ballots, a process they estimated would take at least 28 days. Federal law requires absentee ballots for military and overseas voters to be sent by Sept. 19, and Missouri has a Sept. 8 state deadline for ballot changes.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from Missouri and other states in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, asked von Glahn to respond by noon Monday. He did not immediately grant an administrative stay.
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