The Supreme Court on Friday rejected another attempt to use Missouri’s new congressional map backed by President Donald Trump, ending an extended legal dispute as absentee voting proceeds in the midterm elections.

The justices halted a federal appeals court ruling that would have revived the Republican friendly map for the November elections. Those elections will determine control of Congress, and the Supreme Court recorded no dissents.

Instead, the justices allowed a Missouri Supreme Court decision from earlier this month to remain in effect. That court ruled that a citizen petition prevents use of the new map unless Missouri voters first approve it through a November referendum.

The outcome means Missouri residents will vote using the same congressional districts that were in place for the 2024 and 2022 elections. The unsigned Supreme Court opinion focused on the disruption that another abrupt switch would cause.

“At this late date, ordering reversion to the 2025 map in the midst of an ongoing election would usher in electoral chaos,” the high court wrote in an unsigned opinion.

“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.” That order shuts down the latest attempt to restore the Trump backed map for November.

Republicans had hoped the revised House map, which was already used during the August primaries, could help the party capture an additional seat. The effort was part of a nationwide redistricting battle pushed by Trump to gain an advantage in the midterms.

A panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that changing districts between the primary and general elections would violate the U.S. Constitution. It directed a district judge to stop Missouri from using anything except the new map.

The panel delayed the effect of its order until the following Monday, allowing time for an appeal to the Supreme Court. The justices then blocked that path and left the Missouri Supreme Court decision standing.

The legal fight created confusion for more than a million potential Missouri voters, nearly 1 in 4 statewide. Those voters were shifted between districts, leaving them with different candidates on their ballots.

Absentee voting began Tuesday under the 2022 congressional districts. Thousands of ballots had already been mailed, and some had already been cast when the Supreme Court acted.

Kansas City election director Shawn Kieffer called the decision “a big sigh of relief.” He added, “We just want it over, so we can do our job properly.”

Republicans currently control six of Missouri’s eight House districts. At the urging of Trump and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, state lawmakers last September approved revised districts intended to help the party win seven seats in the midterms.

The redistricting substantially changed the Kansas City based district represented by longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. It removed portions of Kansas City, shifted them into neighboring districts represented by Republicans, and stretched the rest of Cleaver’s 5th Congressional District far east into rural Republican areas.

About 59% of potential voters were new to Cleaver’s district under the revised boundaries, according to an Associated Press estimate. The changes also shifted voters in most of Missouri’s other congressional districts.

Cleaver had no opponent in the Democratic primary, while Republican state Sen. Rick Brattin won a Republican primary featuring six candidates under the revised districts. Both remain the general election candidates even though the district has returned to its previous boundaries.

Brattin joined Republican Rep. Bob Onder and two other voters as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit that produced the 8th Circuit ruling and the final two Supreme Court appeals. At least 16 state and federal lawsuits have been filed over Missouri’s congressional redistricting.

The new map survived most of those cases, including challenges arguing that redistricting between census cycles violated the state constitution and that the new districts failed compactness requirements. In another case, the Missouri Supreme Court temporarily allowed the districts while election officials reviewed petition signatures.

Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins waited until the Aug. 4 legal deadline, the same day the new districts were used in the primaries, to reject the petition. He argued that referendum petitions were not permitted for congressional redistricting.

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled Sept. 3 that the petition was valid and ordered Hoskins to use the districts adopted in 2022. The U.S. Supreme Court let that ruling stand Sept. 8, but U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a conflicting order minutes later favoring the new map.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked Clark’s order on Sept. 10. That same day, the Missouri Supreme Court temporarily held Hoskins in contempt for instructing local election officials to use the new map after Clark’s ruling.

People Not Politicians Missouri executive director Richard von Glahn said the organization would continue campaigning for voters to permanently reject the new map in November. “We have said from the beginning, people, not politicians will be the final deciders on this DC power grab,” he said in a statement.

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