Court Backs GOP on Missouri Map but Sets Up Delay

A long-running legal fight over Missouri's congressional map took another turn Monday when a federal appeals panel ruled in favor of new districts backed by President Trump, even though the US Supreme Court has blocked the redrawn districts from being used in the November election. A three-judge panel of the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals said Missouri should use the new Republican-drawn US House districts in the November election, just as the state did in its August primary, the AP reports. To revert to its prior districts for the general election would violate the US Constitution, the appeals judges said.

However, the ruling has no immediate impact. That's because the federal appellate panel delayed the effect of its order for a week to allow time for an appeal. The US Supreme Court already has twice sided against the Trump-backed map and had blocked enforcement of a lower court order favoring the map pending a potential appeal and eventual decision by the high court. Missouri currently is set to run its November election with the same congressional districts it used in 2024 and 2022, following the decisions by both the Missouri Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court. Local elections officials already have sent absentee ballots to overseas citizens and military voters using those lines. State law requires absentee ballots to be available to all other voters by Tuesday.