Missouri Supreme Court

The 8th Circuit Court will hear arguments Thursday as Republican officials attempt to institute a redrawn congressional map for November's election. But they face a narrow legal path after a U.S. Supreme Court stay and a state ruling that the map never took effect.

At the center of the case is a Missouri law that says the secretary of state must pay between $100 and $500 to an aggrieved person if the officeholder “neglect[s] or refuse[s] to perform any of the duties enjoined on him by law."

Missouri's Secretary of State informed local election authorities on Thursday to use the 2022 map, a reversal of his previous directions to election clerks.

The U.S. Supreme Court has halted a temporary restraining order issued this week that only allowed Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to use a Trump-backed map lawmakers drew in 2025.

The GOP statewide official is slated to face contempt charges for violating a Missouri Supreme Court order not to use a Trump-backed congressional map from 2025.

Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon said she can't make a decision yet on which maps to use, or she risks the same sort of contempt hearing Secretary of State Denny Hoskins currently faces.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark's last-minute order temporarily prevents Secretary of State Denny Hoskins from using any map other than the one passed in 2025 — a move that will almost certainly be appealed.

Instead of defending the state high court’s ruling that a referendum on redistricting means using the congressional map from 2024, Catherine Hanaway’s office is asking for a reversal.

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is appealing the order to use the same congressional maps as 2024 to the U.S. Supreme Court. State law sets Tuesday as the deadline for changes to the Nov. 3 ballot.

In a stunning unanimous ruling, the Missouri Supreme Court blocked the state’s newly redrawn congressional maps from going into effect for the 2026 midterms, and ordered a referendum on the map to be placed on the November ballot. But Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says she will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins said he would not stop election officials from placing a referendum on the ballot — or running the Nov. 3 election on an older congressional map. He tried, but failed, to get the Missouri Supreme Court to stay its ruling on Friday.

The Respect Missouri Voters plan would make it much harder for lawmakers to overturn voter-approved ballot initiatives.