Federal appeals court orders Missouri to use congressional map rejected twice by Supreme Court

An Missouri appeals court ordered Monday that the state must use a GOP-drawn congressional map in November’s elections, reversing a series of Supreme Court decisions.The St.Louis-based Eighth U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals made the ruling Monday, just one day before absentee and mail-in ballots were slated to be sent out to voters.Military and overseas voters have already begun to receive ballots, according to the Associated Press."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," Eighth Circuit Judge Stephen R.Clark wrote in a previous decision, which was upheld by the appeals panel in Monday's ruling.The map, drawn by Missouri’s Republican-dominated state assembly in 2025, has already been rejected by the U.S.

Supreme Court twice on procedural grounds, most recently earlier this month.ELECTION CHAOS IN THIS RED STATE JUST GOT EVEN STRANGER FOR REPUBLICANS AFTER SUPREME COURT RULINGThe maps show how Missouri’s congressional districts changed between 2022 and 2025, including the expansion of the Kansas City-area 5th District into more Republican-leaning rural parts of the state.(Missouri Office of Administration/Amanda Macias/Fox News Digital)The new map splits Missouri’s fifth congressional district, which encompasses the state’s largest metropolitan area centered on Kansas City, into two districts, likely eliminating one of the state’s two Democratic-leaning districts.Despite numerous challenges, Missouri did use the 2025 map for its August primary elections.

An August ruling from a state trial court ruled that a reversion to the 2022 map "would move hundreds of thousands of voters into different districts for the imminent 2026 general election compared to the districts in which they cast their ballots in the August primary elections."The Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Author...