An 8th Circuit panel heard Republican-backed arguments to reinstate Missouri’s 2025 congressional map, with judges pressing whether any final order can come before ballots go out for the Nov. 3 election.
Friday is the deadline to mail overseas ballots, and absentee ballots must be ready within 5 days, making any new court-ordered switch potentially the fourth map change since Sept. 3.
The dispute stems from a referendum petition against the 2025 map: the Missouri Supreme Court put the 2022 districts back for November, then a federal judge restored the 2025 map before the U.S. Supreme Court stayed that order.
Judges also sparred over whether People Not Politicians can keep arguing the appeal and whether the Supreme Court’s stay lets the 8th Circuit issue a final ruling or bars the 2025 map until review ends.
The 2025 map was drawn to help Republicans flip a Democratic-held U.S. House seat, while Proposition A on the November ballot will decide whether that map takes effect in 2028.