Kavanaugh Blocks Missouri's GOP-Drawn Congressional Map from November Ballot

Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday rejected Missouri's emergency request to use a Republican-drawn congressional map in the November 2026 midterm elections, siding with Missouri's own Supreme Court, which had unanimously ruled the new boundaries couldn't take effect without a statewide voter referendum. Kavanaugh acted alone — as he is permitted to do for emergency requests from his circuit — without referring the matter to the full court and without explaining his reasoning, a common practice in emergency filings.

The map at the center of the dispute was redrawn in September 2025 at President Trump's explicit request, outside the normal redistricting cycle, as part of a broader Republican strategy to shore up the party's House majority heading into 2026. Missouri Republicans currently hold six of the state's eight House seats. The new map sliced Kansas City — Missouri's largest city — into multiple districts, specifically designed to unseat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, one of only two Democrats in the state's congressional delegation.

Opponents, led by Richard von Glahn of the advocacy group People Not Politicians Missouri, gathered more than 300,000 signatures — more than double the required number — across 691 boxes of referendum petitions, invoking a long-standing provision of Missouri's Constitution that allows citizens to override redistricting legislation via popular vote. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins refused to place the referendum on the ballot, arguing redistricting couldn't legally be subject to voter override. He waited until the last possible moment to object, doing so only after the new map had already been used in August's primary, in which 1.2 million Missourians voted.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway argued that blocking the map effectively invalidated those 1.2 million primary votes and created an impossible logistical situation, noting a hard September 8 deadline for locking in general election ballots. Her office said it was evaluating next steps. With Kavanaugh's order standing, Missouri will revert to its 2022 legislative map for the November general election, and voters will separately weigh in on the new map via a statewide referendum — Proposition A — this fall.