A federal judge rejected a last-minute bid from Missouri’s top election official to avoid a state Supreme Court hearing Thursday morning on whether he is in contempt of court for ordering local officials to use a voting map the justices explicitly barred.
The Indiana Supreme Court is set to decide whether a Republican state senator who bucked President Donald Trump’s demand for a gerrymandered map will keep his seat in a race that’s come down to a narrow three-vote margin.
Opponents of Missouri’s GOP gerrymander asked the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to temporarily block a district court order that has thrown elections into last-minute chaos, with local officials overdue to finalize ballots for the 2026 midterms.
Missouri’s top election official asked a federal district court to shield him from a state supreme court order that he explain why he should not be held in contempt of court for telling local officials to use a gerrymandered election map the justices explicitly blocked.
The Missouri Supreme Court gave the state’s top election official until 1pm EST Wednesday to explain why he shouldn’t be held in contempt for violating the court’s Sept. 3 order preventing him from using a gerrymandered congressional map that will give Republicans an advantage in November’s midterms.
Missouri’s congressional redistricting fight escalated again as opponents of the state’s Trump-backed GOP gerrymander asked a federal judge to immediately pause his order requiring the map to be used in November — while also taking the fight to a federal appeals court.
A federal judge temporarily revived Missouri Republicans’ congressional gerrymander for the 2026 midterms, just after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected the state’s separate emergency effort to restore the map.
Missouri cannot use its gerrymandered map for the upcoming midterm elections after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to wade into a purely state matter.
A voting rights group files its objection to Missouri GOP’s appeal to the Supreme Court asking it to greenlight a gerrymander without voters weighing in.
With less than 60 days until Election Day, the fight against President Donald Trump’s crusade to restrict voting is reaching a defining moment.