For the third time in just over two weeks, the Supreme Court refused to let Missouri Republicans force through their maximal congressional gerrymander. This time, the justices made their frustration with the lower courts remarkably difficult to miss.

Missouri’s 2026 congressional elections will proceed under the map adopted in 2022, with voting already underway. That map is expected to produce a delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats, an existing Republican gerrymander that was apparently not aggressive enough for state party leaders.

Republicans instead wanted to use a map passed by the legislature last year. That version would have divided the congressional district containing much of Kansas City and was expected to produce seven Republican seats and one Democratic seat.

“This Court’s September 10 stay order meant that the 2022 map would be used in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri, absent further order of this Court. And the election has now begun under the 2022 map,” the unsigned, per curiam ruling said.

The justices then described how the appeals court tried to push the newer map back into place. “But on September 21, 11 days after this Court’s most recent order, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ordered the District Court to enter a permanent injunction in effect requiring use of the 2025 map instead of the 2022 map in the 2026 election.”

The Supreme Court did not hide its impatience with that maneuver. “Given this Court’s two prior orders in this litigation, our conclusion that this was [an] error should come as no surprise,” the justices added dryly.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals panel consisted entirely of Republican appointees. Its attempt earlier this week to maneuver around the Supreme Court’s block on the 2025 map shocked court watchers and earned an unmistakably stern response.

Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, a Republican, also came in for criticism. Hoskins had tried to prevent the new gerrymander from entering the state referendum process, which freezes new legislation until voters can consider it statewide if petitioners gather enough signatures.

The Missouri Supreme Court had already provided an early indication that using the new map would not be lawful if the signatures satisfied the requirements. Even so, Hoskins delayed rejecting the petition until the final possible day, ensuring that the primaries would be conducted under the 2025 map.

Republicans allied with Hoskins then argued that holding the general election under a different map from the primaries would be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s ruling pointed directly at the secretary’s own decision to proceed despite the obvious uncertainty surrounding the 2025 map.

“In the several-month period before the August primary election, the Missouri Secretary of State was well aware that conducting the August primary election with the 2025 map carried significant risks,” the ruling said. “The Secretary nonetheless chose to proceed with the 2025 map for the primary.”

The order maintained that exasperated tone through its conclusion. The justices laid out the situation in blunt language that left the District Court and Court of Appeals precious little room for another creative interpretation.

“The District Court and Court of Appeals should not enjoin or otherwise prohibit the use of the 2022 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri,” the Court said. That instruction directly bars the lower courts from blocking the map under which the election has already begun.

The Court followed with an equally explicit command about the Republican legislature’s preferred alternative. “And the District Court and Court of Appeals should not order or otherwise require Missouri to use the 2025 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri.”

That ends the immediate attempt to use the more aggressive map for the 2026 congressional election. The likely six Republican and two Democratic seat arrangement under the 2022 map will remain in effect for this election.

The fate of the 2025 map beyond the current election will go to Missouri voters. On the November ballot, they will decide whether the state should use that map in future elections.