Missouri referendum backers ask 8th Circuit to pause ruling requiring GOP gerrymander for midterms

By Yunior Rivas

Anti-gerrymandering protesters demonstrate inside the rotunda of the Missouri Capitol Building on Sept. 10, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (Photo by Michael Thomas/Getty Images)
JEFFERSON CITY, MISSOURI - SEPTEMBER 10: A woman wears a Handmaids Tale costume as protestors demonstrate inside the rotunda of the Missouri Capitol Building on September 10, 2025 in Jefferson City, Missouri. Activists and concerned voters descended in the Missouri Capitol to protest the current plan on redistricting maps ahead of the midterm elections. (Photo by Michael Thomas/Getty Images)

Missouri referendum proponents asked a federal appeals court Monday to pause its ruling requiring the state to use its 2025 GOP congressional gerrymander in the November elections while they seek U.S. Supreme Court review.

The emergency request comes after a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Missouri’s plan to use its 2022 congressional map in November would violate Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution because the state conducted its August primary under the 2025 map.

The panel affirmed a lower court ruling and ordered the district court to enter a permanent injunction barring Secretary of State Denny Hoskins (R) and officials acting with him from using any congressional map other than the 2025 map.

That puts the federal courts in direct conflict with the Missouri Supreme Court, which ruled the 2025 gerrymander cannot take effect until voters have a chance to weigh in on it in a referendum vote.

The appeals court itself temporarily delayed that injunction until Sept. 28 to allow time for Supreme Court review. The court said that if the justices do not stay or otherwise alter the injunction by then, Missouri officials must fully implement the 2025 map for the November election.

People Not Politicians and its executive director Richard von Glahn*, who successfully challenged the map in state court, are now asking the 8th Circuit to keep its ruling on hold beyond that deadline while they take the dispute back to the Supreme Court.

In their motion to pause the 8th Circuit decision, People Not Politicians argue that ordering Missouri to use the 2025 map violates a U.S. Supreme Court order putting that map on hold until both the appeals court and the justices have had a chance to review the case. Meanwhile, Missouri election officials have already begun distributing ballots using the 2022 map.

“The on-the-ground reality is irrefutable. Missouri’s 116 local election
authorities are running the election under the 2022 map. Military ballots were
transmitted September 18 as required,” they argue.

The Missouri Supreme Court previously held that the 2025 map never legally took effect because opponents submitted a valid referendum petition before the law’s effective date. It ordered the state to use the 2022 map unless voters approve the new districts in November.

The 8th Circuit disagreed on federal constitutional grounds, holding that switching district lines between the primary and general election would unlawfully dilute some voters’ role in choosing their congressional representatives.

A separate Supreme Court appeal challenging the 8th Circuit’s ruling is expected shortly.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents pro-voting parties in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.