Appeals court favors Trump-backed Missouri congressional map, but Supreme Court will have final say

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — 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 Donald Trump, even though the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked those districts from being used in the November election.

A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Missouri should use the new Republican-drawn U.S. House districts in the November election, just as the state did in its August primary. To revert to its prior districts for the general election would violate the U.S. Constitution, the appeals judges said.

The appeals panel directed a lower court judge to issue a permanent injunction against using anything other than the map favored by Trump. But the ruling has no immediate impact. That’s because the panel also ordered the judge to delay the effect of the order for one week to allow time for an appeal.

Opponents of the new map said Monday that they will file an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 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 prior decisions by both the Missouri Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Local elections officials already have sent absentee ballots to overseas citizens and military voters using those districts. State law requires absentee ballots to be available to all other voters by Tuesday. Once voters have cast a ballot, they cannot be given another one — even if the district boundaries have changed.

To try to change districts at this late date would be “practically impossible” and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Missouri Association of County Clerks and Election Authorities told appeals judges in a legal filing.

But an attorney representing Republicans who sued — including U.S. Rep. Bob Onder and state Sen. Rick Brattin, a congressional candidate — suggested during arguments last Thursday that there still is time to revert to the Trump-backed map.

The appeals panel agreed, pointing to other cases in which courts have ordered changes after absentee ballots already had been distributed to overseas citizens and military voters.

“The Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August 2026 primary election,” the appeals panel wrote in its decision.

The panel consists of Judge James Loken, an appointee of former President George H.W. Bush, and two appointees of Trump — Judges David Stras and Justin Smith. Prior to his June appointment, Smith was an attorney who represented Trump as he unsuccessfully appealed a $5 million jury verdict in a lawsuit filed by the writer E. Jean Carroll to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The group People Not Politicians, which spearheaded a referendum petition to put the new map to a statewide vote on the November ballot, said it will appeal the latest decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

“Ballots have been printed, and Missourians have already voted. Thousands more will vote before this order seeks to take effect,” Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians Missouri, said in a statement. “Officials should stop wasting taxpayers’ money on pointless legal action and instead focus on administering our elections.”