Conflicting court rulings Tuesday left Missouri's congressional map in legal limbo less than two months before the November general election, with litigation continuing over which districts will govern the state's races.
Earlier Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied Missouri's emergency appeal seeking to revive the state's revised Republican-backed congressional map, leaving in place the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling blocking the map from being used in November. Kavanaugh acted alone and did not refer the application to the full Supreme Court.
Later Tuesday, however, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a 14-day temporary restraining order directing Missouri officials to use the revised congressional map while the federal case proceeds, setting up competing court orders over which districts should govern the November election.
The Missouri Supreme Court had ruled last week that the revised map never legally took effect because a voter-backed referendum petition suspended the law pending a statewide vote, leaving the congressional districts adopted in 2022 in place for the November election.
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Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene after the state Supreme Court's ruling, arguing that the state faced an unprecedented situation after administering its primary election under one set of districts only to be ordered to use another for the general election.
The revised map, backed by President Donald Trump and Missouri Republicans, was designed to make Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area district more favorable to Republicans, with the goal of expanding the GOP's congressional delegation from 6-2 to 7-1.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled the referendum petition prevented the revised map from taking effect unless voters approve it, leaving the state's 2022 congressional districts in place for the November election.
In its emergency filing, the state told the Supreme Court only it could prevent "hundreds of thousands of voters" from being disenfranchised and ensure Missouri could hold "a timely and lawful federal congressional election."
Hanaway called the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling "catastrophic" after filing the emergency appeal.
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Opponents urged the justices to reject the request, arguing Missouri officials created the timing problem by waiting until after implementing the revised map in the primary to challenge the referendum. Calling the application "not a real emergency," they argued the Supreme Court should not "reward the Secretary's scheme to outsmart Missouri voters, Missouri law, and the Missouri Supreme Court" by allowing use of a map the state's highest court concluded "is not the law and has never been the law."
Clark ruled that requiring Missouri to use different congressional maps for the primary and general elections "would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri's congressional elections," calling into question the candidates nominated in the primary and the votes already cast. He said "widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow" if different maps were used. The temporary restraining order remains in effect for 14 days while the federal case proceeds.
Despite the competing rulings, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe and Hanaway said Tuesday evening the state would move forward using the revised congressional map.
"Missouri is prepared to follow and comply with the federal district court's order, which binds the state to using the map enacted by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Kehoe," Hanaway wrote on X.
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Kehoe said the administration was "grateful for Chief Judge Clark's decision to provide much-needed clarity for Missouri voters and the election process."
"With today marking the deadline for changes to the November ballot, the Missouri First Map will be used in the general election," Kehoe wrote on X. "Voters and candidates deserve consistency, certainty, and not to have the rules changed between elections."
Attorneys representing the referendum supporters, however, appealed Clark's temporary restraining order to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, leaving the legal status of Missouri's congressional districts unresolved as the litigation continues ahead of the November election.
