Missouri legislature

The group People Not Politicians has reportedly collected 200,000 signatures — almost 100,000 more than needed — to get a measure on the 2026 ballot. The ballot measure would give Missourians a chance to vote on the Trump-backed map that could deny 5th District Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, one of two democrats in the state, his seat.

Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office argued that the anti-redistricting referendum attempt violates the state and U.S. constitutions by infringing on the legislature's sole authority to draw maps. The federal case is one of multiple legal battles over state lawmakers' mid-decade redistricting effort.

The state’s prosecutors say that if a recent ruling by the Missouri Court of Appeals is allowed to become law, “mere shoving matches could justifiably be escalated to gun battles,” and violent crime cases would be difficult to prove, hurting victims.

A Missouri educators group is seeking to stop the state from distributing more tax dollars to private schools, saying the $50 million appropriation of general revenue to the MOScholars program is illegal.

The complaint says that Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway did not have the authority to list the legislature as a plaintiff in a redistricting lawsuit without its input.

A three-judge federal panel struck down Texas' new congressional map on racial gerrymandering grounds. Challenges to Missouri's map don't involve the same type of claim.

Depending on the timing, a Supreme Court ruling that weakens Voting Rights Act protections against racial discrimination may lead to more states redrawing congressional maps before the 2026 midterms.

The now-void law, passed by Missouri lawmakers in 2022, expanded the state’s regulations on pornography to create the offense of providing explicit sexual material to a student. The state's library associations sued, arguing that it undermined the First Amendment rights of students.

The office of Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is arguing in court that Missouri's 2022 congressional map, which was drawn by the Republican-dominated legislature, should not have preserved a majority-Black district in the St. Louis area. But that argument may also hurt the GOP's newly-redrawn map as well.

Advocacy group People Not Politicians has until mid-December to collect more than 100,000 signatures across six of Missouri's eight congressional districts. But Missouri's Republican secretary of state rejected more than 90,000 signatures the group already collected.

Opponents argue the Missouri Constitution is clear that lawmakers can only redraw congressional maps after a certified census, while the state said nothing prohibits mid-decade redistricting.

Studies are showing that Missouri's laws targeting gay and transgender people have already pushed LGBTQ+ residents to move — taking their tax dollars, and even businesses, elsewhere. One analysis estimates that Missouri has lost between $362 million to $879 million in household income, and that's expected to increase.