A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling said Missouri must use its 2022 congressional districts in the 2026 election, rejecting the 2025 map Republicans had pursued to improve their odds of winning a seventh U.S. House seat.
The justices said Missouri state law controls and that their Sept. 10 order had already meant the 2022 map remained in force unless the court said otherwise, faulting lower federal courts for reading that order differently.
Using the older map avoids what the court called electoral chaos after absentee voting had already begun; election officials had warned a switch could disrupt ballots already cast or mailed, including 410 absentee ballots in one county alone.
The decision reverses a map that targeted Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's 5th District and means voters in 28 counties will cast November ballots in districts different from those used in the Aug. 4 primary.
The fight capped three weeks of dueling state and federal court orders and leaves Missouri's 2025 map headed to voters as Proposition A, with reform group People Not Politicians already spending about $800,000 on TV ads.