Supreme Court·Redistricting
Supreme Court, for a third time, blocks Missouri's 2025 congressional map
Editor’s note (Sep 26, 2026): We fell short of our standards. An earlier version of our analysis said changing House maps after ballots are in the mail “is how courts manufacture chaos”; it now says such changes “invite confusion, not the steady rules a constitutional republic needs to run an election.” The 9 PM video brief transcript was updated the same way; the video as originally published still contains the earlier line. The facts are unchanged. We apologize for falling short of our standards.
The Supreme Court on Friday granted a stay in People Not Politicians v. Onder, No. 26A388, blocking lower-court orders that would have forced Missouri to use its Republican-drawn 2025 U.S. House map in the November midterms and leaving the 2022 map in place; the unsigned per curiam opinion noted no public dissent. The justices stayed an Eighth Circuit mandate and Eastern District of Missouri injunctions issued after the appeals court directed use of the 2025 map despite the Court's Sept. 10 stay; the opinion said reverting mid-election "would usher in electoral chaos" under the Purcell principle, with absentee and overseas voting already underway on the 2022 lines. Missouri's Supreme Court had ruled the 2025 map cannot take effect under state law until voters approve it in a November referendum; the 2025 map would have shifted the state's House split from 6-2 to 7-1 Republican.
- Supreme Court opinionPeople Not Politicians v. Onder, No. 26A388 (per curiam, Sept. 25, 2026)
- Fox NewsSupreme Court blocks Missouri from using new congressional map in 2026 election
- ReutersUS Supreme Court bars Republican-drawn map in Missouri for third time
- The FederalistSCOTUS Issues Final Order Blocking Missouri’s GOP-Backed Map For Midterms