Federal Appeals Court Revives Trump-Backed Missouri Map Even After Supreme Court Blocked It
This post asks whether the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals was right to order Missouri to use the Republican-drawn 2025 congressional map for the November election, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has already blocked that same map twice this year.
A three-judge panel of the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Missouri must use the map state lawmakers passed last year at the urging of President Trump, the same map used in the state's August primary. The panel, which included two Trump appointees and a George H.W. Bush appointee, wrote that switching maps between the primary and general election would let voters pick nominees under one set of district lines and then vote for those nominees under different ones, calling that unconstitutional. The 2025 map dismantles the Kansas City-based 5th District held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, splitting it into three rural, GOP-leaning districts and turning the state's 6-2 Republican delegation into a 7-1 split.
The ruling directly conflicts with the U.S. Supreme Court, which put the same map on hold on Sept. 10 after Missouri's own Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Sept. 3 that a voter referendum could proceed and ordered the state to use the older 2022 map instead. The appeals court's injunction does not take effect until Sept. 28, leaving time for an emergency Supreme Court appeal that Richard von Glahn of the group People Not Politicians says is already coming. Missouri has already begun mailing ballots to military, overseas and absentee voters under the 2022 lines, adding to the confusion less than two months before Election Day.
Arguments for:
The panel argued that letting voters select party nominees under one map and then vote in the general election under a different map violates their right to a meaningful say in choosing their representatives.
Missouri already used the 2025 map in its August primary, so supporters say consistency requires sticking with those same lines through November rather than switching mid-cycle.
State lawmakers had the authority to redraw districts, and the panel found the new map complies with the Constitution and federal law where the 2022 map, in its view, does not.
Arguments against:
The U.S. Supreme Court has already blocked this exact map twice in recent weeks, and critics say a lower appeals court overriding that is itself a constitutional problem.
Ballots are already being printed and mailed to military, overseas and absentee voters under the 2022 map, and People Not Politicians' Richard von Glahn called continued litigation a waste of taxpayer money with voters already casting ballots.
Opponents say the map's real purpose is to eliminate Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based Democratic seat by splitting it among three rural districts, a partisan gerrymander dressed up as a technical fix.
What's your take?
Was the 8th Circuit right to order Missouri to reinstate the Republican-drawn map for November, even after the Supreme Court twice blocked it? Yes 
No 
Other 
Sources:
#Redistricting #MissouriPolitics #SupremeCourt #Midterms2026 #Gerrymandering
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