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Home Front: Politix

(Updated) 8th Circuit Drops Major Missouri Redistricting Ruling: New Map Must Be Used in November

2026-09-22

[RedState] BIG news out of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday as a three-judge panel (in a 2-1 vote) has now affirmed a district court temporary restraining order regarding the ongoing dispute over Missouri's congressional redistricting efforts. In short, the court ruled that Missouri must use the new 2025/HB 1 congressional map (i.e., the 7-1 map) for the November election.

It's been quite a roller coaster ride of late in the Show-Me State regarding the state's congressional map. I must confess that I was one of those who thought that once the primary election was held using the new 7-1 map (aka "Missouri First" or HB 1), things were fairly well settled on the matter. Boy, was I mistaken.

In the span of roughly a week, we got:

Missouri Supreme Court (which had previously held it constitutional for the legislature to conduct mid-decade redistricting and further found the 7-1 map sufficiently compact) holds that the referendum petition regarding the new map was valid and timely and must be placed on the November ballot, meaning (basically) that HB 1 never took effect and the 2022 congressional map remained in place.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh denies Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins' application for stay of SCOMO judgment.

District Judge Stephen Clark (Eastern District of Missouri) issues temporary restraining order (TRO) prohibiting Hoskins from using any map other than HB 1 — the new map — for the November 3 general election.

Hoskins issues directive to local election officials to finalize ballots based on the HB 1 map — i.e., the 7-1 map.

8th Circuit Court of Appeals denies referendum supporters' motion for stay pending appeal and for summary reversal of Clark's TRO, noting that it may lack jurisdiction to review the TRO at all.

SCOTUS steps in and stays Clark's TRO pending the disposition of the appeal in the 8th Circuit, and any subsequent petition for Supreme Court review.

SCOMO holds Hoskins in contempt for violating its order but also finds that he purged the contempt by notifying local election authorities of the SCOMO order and directing them to use the 2022 map.

8th Circuit says: "Submit your briefs; we'll hear oral argument on Thursday."

As an added wrinkle, Friday (September 18) was the deadline for election authorities to send out overseas and military ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), so a quick turnaround from the 8th Circuit was anticipated.

That put the case before a three-judge 8th Circuit panel Thursday morning, with the judges well aware that the clock was ticking. So, here's what they ruled:

The court holds that because Missouri conducted the August primary under the 2025 map, switching to the 2022 map for the November general election would violate Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. The court's key point is that the primary and general election are parts of one process for choosing members of Congress, and that requires “continuity in the constituency throughout all stages of a single election.”

So, the court affirms Clark's TRO and remands the case to the district court with instructions to enter a permanent injunction barring Hoskins — and people acting in concert with him — from using anything other than the 2025/HB 1 map for the November election.

BUT...the district court is instructed to stay that permanent injunction until Monday, September 28, at 5 p.m. Central, specifically to give People Not Politicians (PNP — the group behind the referendum) time to seek Supreme Court review. If SCOTUS hasn't stayed or altered it by then, Hoskins and local election officials must implement the 2025 map.

Here's the bottom line: Per today's 8th Circuit ruling, Missouri cannot hold the two halves of the same congressional election using two different sets of districts. Because voters chose the parties' congressional nominees under the 2025 map in August, moving district lines before the November general election would leave hundreds of thousands of voters choosing among candidates they had no opportunity to nominate — while their primary votes helped select candidates they could no longer vote for in November.

Practically speaking, however, nothing changes just yet. The 2022 map remains in place while the 8th Circuit's permanent injunction is stayed through 5 p.m. Central on September 28, giving PNP a week to ask the Supreme Court to intervene. If SCOTUS doesn't do so by then, Missouri election officials will have to switch back to the 2025 map for November — which means this roller coaster may have one more rather consequential turn or loop left in it.

Update — 8:20 PM ET: Judge Clark has now, pursuant to the 8th Circuit ruling, entered a permanent injunction in the matter:

prohibiting Secretary of State Hoskins — as well as Secretary Hoskins's officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and all other persons who are in active concert or participation with Secretary of State Hoskins or his officers, agents, servants, employees, or attorneys — from implementing, using, publishing, distributing, or mandating the use of any congressional district map other than the 2025 map for the November 3, 2026, general election.