WASHINGTON – Missouri’s attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to let the state use Republicans’ preferred congressional map in November’s midterm elections, arguing that Missouri’s highest court wrongly blocked the map days before the ballot must be finalized.
“A federal-election-administration disaster is unfolding in Missouri,” Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, said in an appeal filed late Sept. 4.
The Supreme Court asked the group challenging the map to respond by mid-day on Sept. 7.
The emergency request is the latest redistricting battle to reach the high court after President Donald Trump pushed red states to rejigger maps to improve Republicans’ chances of keeping control of Congress.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the map must be approved by voters in a November referendum before it can take effect.
More: Missouri Supreme Court blocks redrawn map, Trump says it’s ‘horrible’
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C., on September 1, 2026.
But the state’s Aug. 4 House primaries took place using the redrawn map, which was approved by the GOP-controlled legislature last year.
Forcing Missouri to go back to the old map “renders a completed federal Primary Election utterly pointless − disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of voters who will now be moved into new districts and forced to vote for candidates they had no role in selecting,” Hanaway wrote.
“Looking forwards, the State is genuinely unsure whether it can switch its governing congressional map in time to run a timely federal election,” she continued.
The maps break up a Democratic-held district in Kansas City, giving Republicans an advantage in seven of the state’s eight House districts.
A group formed to oppose the new map, People Not Politicians, collected enough signatures to put the changes to a public vote through a ballot measure.
But Missouri’s secretary of state said the state’s constitution doesn’t allow ballot measures over congressional redistricting.
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously disagreed.
“The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise,” Judge Ginger Gooch wrote for the court.
The court also said any problems caused by the timing of the ruling is the fault of the secretary of state, who waited eight months before making a decision on the ballot initiative.
Under state law, the ballot must be set by Sept. 8. Absentee ballots will be sent to military and oversees voters on Sept. 19 to comply with federal rules.
Multiple fights over congressional maps have been brought to the Supreme Court in the past year.
The justices ruled favorably for Republicans in redistricting battles in Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, Virginia and New York. The court sided with the Democrats in a challenge to California’s new map.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Missouri asks Supreme Court to back GOP-drawn congressional map
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