By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) – A US appeals court ruled on Monday in favor of a Republican-drawn congressional map in Missouri that aimed to help the party maintain its slim majority in the House of Representatives, although the map will not be used in November’s midterm elections without further intervention from the US Supreme Court.
The ruling by the St. Louis, Missouri-based 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals risked injecting further confusion about the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts with the midterms less than two months away. President Donald Trump’s Republicans are fighting to keep control of both chambers of Congress.
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 Trump to redraw congressional districts to benefit Republican candidates.
On September 3, Missouri’s top court unanimously blocked the new map, siding with challengers who had argued it must be approved by voters in a November referendum before it can take effect.
But a federal judge then issued a temporary order blocking the state court’s decision and requiring Missouri to use the Republican-drawn map in the midterms. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently paused that order. Missouri officials said they would use a prior map that left Cleaver’s district intact.
The Supreme Court’s pause remains in effect for now. The 8th Circuit directed the lower court to enter a permanent injunction allowing for the Republican-drawn map, but also said the ruling would be paused until Monday, September 28 at 5 p.m. CT (2200 GMT) to give the Supreme Court time to weigh in. It was not immediately clear if either Missouri Republicans or the map’s challengers would ask the Supreme Court to take up the case again before the midterms.
At a hearing on September 17, a three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit — which included two judges appointed by Trump during his first term in the White House and another appointed by Republican President George H.W. Bush — acknowledged that time was of the essence, since Missouri is scheduled to start sending ballots to military, overseas and absentee voters this month.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Nia Williams)
