20 States Back Missouri GOP Bid to Revive House Map

Republican attorneys general from 20 states filed an amicus brief backing Missouri's emergency Supreme Court bid to use its redrawn congressional map this November.

Republican attorneys general from Texas, Florida and 18 other states filed a brief Monday supporting Missouri's emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which seeks a stay of the Missouri Supreme Court's ruling blocking the GOP-drawn 2025 congressional map. The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled last Thursday that a referendum with more than 300,000 signatures would put the map, HB 1, before voters in November — meaning the map never took effect and the 2022 map governs this year's election. The amicus brief, per KMBC, argues that switching maps now would cause voter confusion, citing the Purcell principle against late changes to election rules.

The redrawn map was passed after President Trump urged Republican-led states to redistrict outside the normal decennial cycle. If successful, it would give Republicans seven of Missouri's eight U.S. House seats, up from the current 6-2 split. The map eliminated the Kansas City-based majority-Black district held by Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, the state's only African-American member of Congress, and split the Kansas City metro across three districts.

In a notable shift, the St. Louis Public Radio reports that Missouri Solicitor General Louis Capozzi is no longer asking the Supreme Court to block the referendum from going before voters. Instead, the state seeks only to allow the 2025 map to be used for the November election while voters decide its fate simultaneously. That concession matters for the St. Louis-based 1st District: Secretary of State Denny Hoskins acknowledged the ruling could make it harder for lawmakers to redraw that district in 2027, since any future map could also face a voter referendum.

People Not Politicians organizer Richard von Glahn filed opposition briefs Monday urging the justices to deny the stay. Per SCOTUSblog, he argued the case rests on adequate and independent state-law grounds the Supreme Court cannot review, and that a stay would not even provide relief because HB 1 never took effect — the 2022 plan is the legal status quo.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency appeals from Missouri's circuit, ordered a response by Monday at 11 a.m., according to KCTV. The filing came as the Sept. 19 federal deadline for mailing absentee ballots to military and overseas voters approached, and with a Sept. 8 deadline to make alterations to the November ballot. State election officials from both parties, per the St. Louis Public Radio, dispute the argument that switching back to the 2022 map would be difficult. Meanwhile, Republican legislators Bob Onder and Rick Brattin filed a separate federal suit to reinstate the 2025 map.

If the stay is denied, the 2022 map governs November while the referendum proceeds to voters. If granted, the state would run the election on the 2025 map even as voters weigh its fate. Von Glahn argued that granting the state's request would require an injunction — a much higher bar — because it would affirmatively establish authority to use a map the Missouri Supreme Court held has never been law. Either way, the ruling sets precedent for how far voters can constrain mid-cycle redistricting nationwide.