By Andrew Chung
Sept 9 (Reuters) – Challengers to a redrawn congressional map in Missouri aimed at favoring Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to suspend a federal judge’s order that allowed only those reconfigured boundaries to be used in November’s midterm elections.
The map’s challengers, including a group opposed to the Republican-drawn map called People Not Politicians, made the request in an emergency filing, moving swiftly after St. Louis, Missouri-based Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued his decision on Tuesday.
The request brings the fight over Missouri’s U.S. House of Representatives districts back to the Supreme Court just one day after it declined to intervene in a bid by Missouri officials to reinstate the redrawn map, which the state’s top court had blocked until it is put to a referendum.
Clark’s order appeared to conflict with the Missouri Supreme Court’s unanimous September 3 ruling blocking the map, leaving the state’s congressional districts in limbo and injecting further confusion into the high-stakes electoral fight.
Missouri Republicans adopted the new map, which dismantled the Kansas City-based seat of longtime Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver, in 2025 as part of a broader effort backed by President Donald Trump to redraw congressional districts in ways that could benefit Republican candidates.
Republicans hold a narrow 219-214 majority in the U.S. House, including one independent who caucuses with Republicans.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung; editing by Deepa Babington)
