Missouri asks US Supreme Court to restore Republican-drawn map for midterms

The US state of Missouri on Friday filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, the highest judicial body in the nation, seeking to preserve its newly enacted congressional map, the geographical boundaries used to elect representatives.

The state wants to block an order by the Missouri Supreme Court that forced the state to abandon its new HB 1 map, a seven-to-one Republican-drawn map designed to expand the party's House majority, and revert to a 2022 version, which features a six-to-two Republican-to-Democratic district split. The state court had ruled that the new map was officially suspended following a referendum petition.

Missouri Solicitor General Louis J. Capozzi warned that the sudden switch creates "unprecedented chaos" because the state already held its primary elections in August, votes that determine which candidates represent political parties, under the new boundaries in August. Reverting to the old map would shift hundreds of thousands of voters into different areas, forcing them to vote for candidates they had no hand in nominating.

The legal battle began after a small group of residents organized a referendum, which successfully paused the new map after gathering signatures from just 3.3% of voters. Missouri officials argue that allowing a tiny minority to veto a state law violates the US Constitution's Elections Clause, which grants state legislatures the primary authority to manage federal voting.

Officials emphasize that changing the maps now is "impossible" before the November vote. Under federal military voting laws, the state must mail absentee ballots to overseas troops by Sept. 19, a deadline they cannot meet if they must manually reprogram election databases and redesign ballots for the entire state.

State lawyers urged the high court to intervene to prevent a major election crisis. Whether the US Supreme Court will grant Missouri's emergency request to keep the new map remains unknown.