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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Elections & Politics

Missouri Supreme Court blocks Trump-backed congressional map from November election

From The Guardian · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Documents & data In the courts
  • Missouri’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that new congressional districts backed by Donald Trump cannot be used in the November 2026 general election unless voters approve them in a referendum.
  • The ruling restores the map adopted after the 2020 census for the November election and gives Republicans a setback in their effort to gain a House seat.
  • The decision followed a dispute over more than 300,000 petition signatures and could be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

Missouri’s Supreme Court has unanimously stopped a Republican-backed congressional map from being used in the November general election, delivering a rare setback to Donald Trump and his party in the national redistricting fight.

The court ordered a statewide vote on whether to approve the new districts. Until then, the map adopted after the 2020 census will remain in force for the November 2026 election. The new districts were used in Missouri’s August primaries, but the court said they cannot be used in November, or in any future election, unless voters approve them.

The judges ruled that a referendum petition submitted by citizens was “legal, sufficient, and timely,” and said Missouri’s secretary of state had incorrectly rejected it. The court interpreted the state constitution’s authorization for referendums on “any act” of the legislature as covering congressional redistricting laws.

The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise.

· Missouri Supreme CourtThe court explained why it overturned the secretary of state’s rejection of the referendum petition.

The ruling followed a year of political and legal maneuvering. After Trump urged Republicans to redraw districts to their advantage, Governor Mike Kehoe called a special legislative session that substantially reshaped the fifth congressional district, held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. Opponents submitted more than 300,000 signatures in December to force a public vote, but Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the petition on primary election day in August. A lower court upheld that decision before the state Supreme Court overturned it.

Hoskins and Republican party committees argued that restoring the old districts so close to the general election would cause confusion. Missouri currently sends six Republicans and two Democrats to the US House. Cleaver has won his Kansas City-area district with at least 60% of the vote in each of the past two elections. Republican state Senator Rick Brattin won the August primary in the reshaped fifth district, which had been extended eastward into rural Republican areas. The decision could still be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

did not go into effect and will not go into effect unless and until approved by the voters.

· Missouri Supreme CourtThe court ruled that the legislature’s new congressional map remains inactive unless voters approve it.
About this summary

Originally published by The Guardian in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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