Updated on: September 8, 2026 / 7:59 PM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Missouri should use a new congressional map that favors Republicans for now, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a ruling from the state's highest court directing Missouri to use an older map.The Supreme Court rebuffed an appeal from Missouri officials who wanted to use new congressional districts backed by President Trump in the November election, marking a defeat for Republicans who had hoped the new map could help them hold on to their slim House majority. The justices let stand a decision by Missouri's top court, which said the new districts cannot be used in the November elections because they were superseded by a citizen petition demanding a statewide vote. But shortly after, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a temporary restraining order in a separate challenge to Missouri's Supreme Court decision, writing that the plaintiffs faced "irreparable harm" otherwise because "many Missouri voters would have to cast their general-election votes for candidates whom they had no role in nominating." The decision adds further confusion about which boundaries will be used in November. The new House maps, passed by the state legislature last year, would dramatically redraw longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area district, making it GOP-leaning.Missouri's new districts were used in the August primaries. But the Missouri Supreme Court ruled last week that the state must revert to districts adopted after the last census.Republican state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, who appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, had argued it would violate federal rights to switch districts for voters between the primary and general elections. She also said it would cause confusion.
