Missouri’s chaotic redistricting battle: Where it stands

A showdown over Missouri’s congressional map has taken several turns in the last week, as competing court rulings leave lingering questions about which district boundaries should be in effect for the midterms.

Under the current rulings, Missouri officials are moving ahead with the GOP’s favored 7-1 map that’s set to give the party a pickup opportunity.

But the state of play is changing day by day, raising continued confusion about how the dust will settle when November’s contests roll around. It’s already back at the Supreme Court .

Here’s a look at where things stand in the legal fight.

Organizer moving to hold Hoskins in contempt

The Democratic-aligned organizer fighting the GOP says the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision reverting to the old 6-2 lines — which sparked the recent chaos — remains good law.

Richard von Glahn wants the court to force the hand of Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) by holding him in contempt. A hearing is set for Thursday morning.

In question is whether a separate ruling from a federal judge supersedes the state-level decision.

So, he argues Hoskins ran afoul of the court’s Sept. 3 order by sending an email to local election officials on Tuesday evening instructing them to use the GOP-favored map, as the federal judge has directed.

“This Court should make clear that regardless of other orders (except from the United States Supreme Court) the Missouri Secretary of State must comply with this court’s injunction,” von Glahn’s attorney wrote in court filings.

“The Court should instruct all local election authorities that HB 1 is not the law and has never been the law,” the attorney continued, using the name of the redistricting legislation.

The state’s directive came after U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, an appointee of President Trump, ruled in a different lawsuit that officials should continue implementing the Republican-favored lines to avoid widespread voter confusion.

The primaries were already conducted under that design, and Clark said changing the map would “wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness” of the elections.

Missouri Republicans say Clark’s ruling is what holds sway.

It’ll come to a head Thursday morning at 11 a.m. EDT. The Missouri chief justice has ordered Hoskins to explain in person why he should not be held in contempt for violating the earlier injunction.

“The Show Me State will not be run into the ground like the communists running NYC on my watch,” Hoskins wrote on social media. “I will continue to abide by Judge Clark’s federal temporary restraining order on a federal congressional election.”

“I look forward to my day in court,” he added.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway (R) is asking Clark to halt the contempt proceeding.

“This Court should bar the Missouri Supreme Court’s attempt to punish Secretary Hoskins for complying with this Court’s order,” Hanaway wrote in a Wednesday filing.

Federal courts typically cannot stop a pending state court proceeding, but Hanaway argues that an exception in the Anti-Injunction Act — which allows intervention when necessary to “protect or effectuate” a federal judgment — “fits this case to a tee.”

“Despite von Glahn’s antics, this case is not particularly complicated,” her office wrote.

8th Circuit declines to block federal judge’s order favoring GOP

As Missouri’s top court takes up the contempt battle, the federal side is heating up, too.

A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit on Wednesday unanimously rejected von Glahn’s request to pause Clark’s order.

“The motion for a stay pending appeal is denied because we either lack jurisdiction over the appeal or, based on the briefing we have so far, the stay factors have not been met,” they wrote in a brief order.

The decision came from Judge James Loken, a former President George H.W. Bush appointee, and Judges David Stras and Justin Smith, both appointed by Trump.

Von Glahn had said the federal judge had no authority to get involved. He should’ve left it to the state courts, the organizer said.

“Multiple abstention doctrines counsel against federal intervention. Each independently supports a stay; together, they present an overwhelming case for judicial restraint,” his lawyer wrote in court papers filed on Wednesday.

The battle is right back on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.

Within minutes of the 8th Circuit’s ruling, von Glahn asked the justices to step in immediately, warning that any delay risks “irreparable harm” that could not be undone.

“The Secretary has made clear that every hour the TRO [temporary restraining order] remains in force, election officials will continue to implement a congressional map that Missouri’s highest court has held is not and never has been law,” they wrote.

State officials are due to respond by Thursday morning.

The case heads to Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee who by default oversees emergency matters arising from Missouri.

Kavanaugh has taken a look at Missouri’s redistricting battle once before. Just a day earlier, he declined to lift the state court ruling that sparked the recent chaos.

But that state case revolves around Missouri’s procedural requirements for referendums. The new lawsuit is a federal case that raises distinct issues.

Kavanaugh could act alone, as he did last time, or refer the case to his colleagues for a vote.

Separate federal judge hearing new lawsuit

No matter how those cases shake out, a separate federal lawsuit challenging the old boundaries as unconstitutional has landed in federal court before a different judge.

The complaint comes from Paul Berry III, the GOP nominee for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.

He argues that the GOP-favored congressional lines enacted in 2025 also violate the Voting Rights Act. Earlier this year, the nation’s highest court made it significantly more difficult to mount Section 2 redistricting suits. That isn’t stopping Berry.

“No Missouri Court has considered the constitutionality of Missouri utilizing race to draft the jurisdictional boundaries of Missouri Congressional District One as a majority-Minority gerrymandered congressional district,” Berry, who is representing himself, wrote in a Friday filing.

The case is in the hands of U.S. District Judge John Ross, an appointee of former President Obama.

Ross said Tuesday that he “cannot determine a proper path forward” until the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled.