Missouri Supreme Court throws out GOP-favored House maps

… {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Missouri Supreme Court throws out GOP-favored House maps","description":"The Missouri Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Trump and Republicans Thursday, ruling the GOP could not issue a new map aimed at giving the party an additional seat in the House until the congressional lines are approved by voters in November. The decision is a setback for Republicans, who had sought to quickly…","datePublished":"2026-09-03T22:15:10+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-03T22:55:00+00:00","url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/6070458-missouri-supreme-court-redistricting-republicans\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/6070458-missouri-supreme-court-redistricting-republicans\/"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Hill","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/03\/cropped-favicon-512px-1.png","width":512,"height":512}},"author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Caroline Vakil","url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/author\/597201-caroline-vakil\/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Mueller","url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/?post_type=profile&p=3550193"}],"alternativeHeadline":"","articleBody":"The Missouri Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Trump and Republicans Thursday, ruling the GOP could not issue a new map aimed at giving the party an additional seat in the House until the congressional lines are approved by voters in November. The decision is a setback for Republicans, who had sought to quickly pass a new GOP-friendly 7-1 map in the House this cycle, meant to dismantle Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's (D-Mo.) district and give the Republican Party one more pickup opportunity.  Instead, the high court ruled that\u00a0a citizen-led\u00a0referendum\u00a0aiming\u00a0to halt the implementation of the map and put it to a vote in November could proceed. The congressional lines \"did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters,\" the court said in its decision. \"The congressional redistricting the General Assembly established in 2022 remains in full force and effect for the November 2026 general election.\" Missouri Democrats swiftly declared victory.\u00a0 \"The Missouri Supreme Court just unanimously ruled to reverse the gerrymandered, anti-democracy maps until THE PEOPLE have a chance to vote. This is only possible because of the work done by our neighbors to gather signatures and fight back!\" the party\u00a0said on the social platform X. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R) said her office would \"immediately\" seek relief from the Supreme Court.\u00a0 \"Never before in American history has a court overturned a congressional map after a primary and before a general election. This unprecedented decision clearly violates federal law and has thrust our state into a full\u2011fledged constitutional crisis,\" Hanaway said\u00a0in a post on X. Missouri Republicans last year\u00a0moved forward\u00a0with redistricting amid pressure from the White House and national Republicans to join a redistricting tit-for-tat with blue states that had kicked off in red Texas.\u00a0 Republicans already hold six of eight House seats, but the new map would have dismantled Cleaver's Kansas City district to make the seat more winnable for the GOP. Missouri's Supreme Court\u00a0previously ruled this spring\u00a0that state lawmakers did not violate the state constitution in redrawing the maps. A Cole County judge also\u00a0rejected an effort\u00a0to suspend the new maps as organizers gathered signatures to challenge them.\u00a0 In early August, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R)\u00a0blocked\u00a0the referendum, declaring the petition led by\u00a0People Not Politicians unconstitutional and triggering a lawsuit after the group had turned in\u00a0more than 300,000 signatures\u00a0to get it on the ballot. Hoskins argued that, under the state constitution, redistricting plans approved by the General Assembly aren't subject to a referendum process.\u00a0 But the seven-member Missouri Supreme Court \u2014 on which\u00a0five of its judges\u00a0were appointed by a Republican governor \u2014 unanimously ruled that the referendum petition was \"legal, sufficient, and timely\" and that Hoskins \"incorrectly concluded otherwise.\" Barring intervention from the nation's highest court, voters are now set to have the final say in November on whether the maps take effect in 2028. For the time being, the court said Missouri's congressional districts established in 2022 \"remain in full force and effect for this year's general election.\" Updated at 6:54 p.m. EDT","articleSection":"Campaign","genre":["Campaign","Court Battles","News","Regulation","State Watch"],"keywords":[],"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/AP25147755532881-e1788473041212.jpg?strip=1","name":"People gather outside the Missouri Supreme Court building on March 12, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. 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