The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled the Missouri 2026 Midterm election should follow the same map in place for the primaries. That map is the GOP-altered one that eliminates one Democrat House Seat stronghold. The court stated, “This Court holds that Missouri’s current plan to use the 2022 map in the November 2026 general election violates the Constitution. Only use of the 2025 map complies with the Constitution and federal law.”
8th Circuit Orders Missouri To Use GOP-Backed Map For Midterms– thefederalist.com
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EXCERPT:
Missouri’s chaotic redistricting battle is finally over — or so America thought.
A three-judge panel for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday that the Show Me State must use its 2025 congressional map in the upcoming midterm elections. The new map would take Missouri from a six Republican-two Democrat map (enacted in 2022) to a seven Republican-one Democrat map.
“This Court holds that Missouri’s current plan to use the 2022 map in the November 2026 general election violates the Constitution. Only use of the 2025 map complies with the Constitution and federal law,” the court held.
The panel was comprised of Judge James Loken, a Bush 41 appointee, and Judges David Stras and Justin Smith, both Trump appointees.
The entire kerfuffle began earlier this month, when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the state must use its 2022 map for the midterms and to include a statewide referendum on the 2025 map on Missouri’s 2026 fall ballot. The left-wing People Not Politicians‘ efforts to get the referendum placed on the ballot were initially rejected by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins.
Missouri-based Chief District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, issued a temporary restraining order days later in a federal challenge brought by several congressional candidates, mandating the Show Me State to use the 2025 map for the midterms. That ruling came moments after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected an emergency request by Missouri officials to pause the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision.
SCOTUS ultimately froze Clark’s TRO without explanation the following day. The high court said that the lower court’s order is paused “pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari in this Court, if such a writ is timely sought.”