The Supreme Court has stepped into Missouri’s congressional map fight for a third time, issuing an emergency stay late Friday that blocks an 8th Circuit ruling and keeps the state’s 2022 congressional map in place for the November election.
In a per curiam order, the justices granted the stay requested by People Not Politicians and Richard von Glahn, halting both the 8th Circuit’s September 21 decision and a subsequent permanent injunction entered by Chief Judge Stephen Clark that would have required Missouri to use a newer 2025 map instead.
The order traced the case’s path through the Court. On September 8, Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined to stay a Missouri Supreme Court ruling requiring the 2022 map. Two days later, the full Court stayed Judge Clark’s temporary restraining order, which had called for the 2025 map. The Court said Friday that its September 10 stay “remains in effect.”
The justices did not mince words about the 8th Circuit’s decision to order a permanent injunction requiring the 2025 map anyway. “Given this Court’s two prior orders in this litigation, our conclusion that this was error should come as no surprise,” the order stated.
The Court also pushed back on the 8th Circuit’s reasoning under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, at least for purposes of emergency relief. It noted that Supreme Court precedent has never required a state to use the same congressional map for its primary and general elections, meaning the underlying legal question was not “entirely clearcut.”
A central factor in the ruling was timing. The Court noted that Missouri’s election is already underway in practical terms: ballots using the 2022 map have been printed and mailed, and absentee and military/overseas voting has begun. Forcing a map switch at this stage, the Court warned, “would usher in electoral chaos.”
The Court also rejected an argument from the state of Missouri, which had urged dismissal of the application on the grounds that People Not Politicians and von Glahn lacked standing to appeal — a position drawn from Judge David Stras’s dissent below. In a footnote, the justices wrote: “We conclude that at least one of the applicants has standing on appeal.”
With the stay in place, Missouri voters will cast their ballots in November under the 2022 congressional map, at least for this election cycle.
