The Supreme Court has stepped into Missouri’s congressional map battle once again, delivering [1] an unmistakable rebuke to the 8th Circuit and preserving the state’s 2022 map for the November election.
In a per curiam order issued late Friday afternoon, the Court granted an emergency stay requested by People Not Politicians and Richard von Glahn.
The stay blocks the 8th Circuit’s September 21 ruling and the permanent injunction subsequently entered by Chief Judge Stephen Clark.
The practical result is straightforward.
Missouri will continue using its 2022 congressional map for the November election rather than switching to the newer 2025 map after voting preparations are already underway.
The five page order recounted two earlier Supreme Court interventions in the same dispute.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court stayed lower court orders requiring Missouri to use its 2025 congressional map in November, allowing the state to continue using its 2022 map. The Court cited its earlier stay and concerns about changing election rules after voting has begun. pic.twitter.com/5NbgVPWRjr [2]
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) September 25, 2026 [3]
Those prior decisions became central to the justices’ sharp assessment of the latest action by the 8th Circuit.
On September 8, Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined to stay a Missouri Supreme Court ruling that required the state to use the 2022 map.
Two days later, the full Supreme Court stayed Clark’s temporary restraining order requiring Missouri to use the 2025 map.
The Supreme Court emphasized Friday that its September 10 stay “remains in effect.”
Despite that directive, the 8th Circuit later ordered the entry of a permanent injunction requiring the use of the 2025 map.
That move drew the order’s bluntest language.
The justices wrote, “Given this Court’s two prior orders in this litigation, our conclusion that this was error should come as no surprise.”
The message was difficult to miss.
After the Supreme Court had already acted twice in the litigation, the 8th Circuit’s order directing that the 2025 map be used prompted yet another intervention from the nation’s highest court.
The Supreme Court also expressed doubt about the 8th Circuit’s Article I, Section 2 theory, at least in the context of emergency relief.
The Court described that theory as novel and said the merits were not “entirely clearcut.”
According to the order, Supreme Court precedent has never held that a state must use the same congressional map for both its primary and general elections.
That absence of controlling precedent weighed against allowing the permanent injunction to force an immediate map change.
The Purcell principle also played a leading role in the Court’s decision.
Missouri’s election is not simply approaching on the calendar, because the election process has already begun.
Ballots based on the 2022 congressional map have been printed and mailed.
Absentee voting and voting by military and overseas voters are also underway, making a sudden switch to the 2025 map particularly disruptive.
Against that backdrop, the Supreme Court rejected the prospect of changing Missouri’s congressional boundaries in the middle of the election process.
The justices concluded that changing maps now “would usher in electoral chaos.”
Missouri separately argued that the Court should dismiss the application because People Not Politicians and von Glahn lacked appellate standing.
That argument adopted the position Judge David Stras presented in his dissenting opinion below.
The Supreme Court disposed of the standing claim in a footnote rather than allowing it to derail the application.
The order stated, “We conclude that at least one of the applicants has standing on appeal.”
The ruling leaves Missouri with a clear answer for November.
Voters, election officials, absentee voters, and military and overseas voters will proceed under the 2022 congressional map already used to print and distribute ballots.
For now, the 8th Circuit’s attempt to require the newer map has been blocked, and Clark’s permanent injunction cannot take effect.
After multiple rounds of litigation and three Supreme Court interventions, the 2022 map remains in place for the election.