The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked Missouri from using a newly drawn Republican congressional map in November's midterm elections — the second time in a week the justices have intervened in the fight, and a decision that keeps two winnable seats in play for Democrats. The unsigned order, issued with no noted dissents around midday Thursday, forces Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins to revert to the state's 2022 congressional lines, according to CBS News and NBC News.

The stakes are concrete: Missouri's current U.S. House delegation is split 6 Republicans to 2 Democrats. The map Republicans pushed through in a 2025 special session was drawn specifically to target Kansas City Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II's seat, which would have flipped the delegation to a 7-1 GOP advantage. Complicating matters further, Missouri's August primary elections were already conducted using the new, since-blocked map.

A map drawn, then erased — twice

The chaos traces back to September 3, when the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a citizen veto referendum on the new map was constitutional and ordered the 2022 map used instead. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene; Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected that emergency request on September 8. But confusion deepened this week when U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, in a separate federal lawsuit, ordered the opposite — that the new GOP map be used — setting up dueling directives that briefly left Hoskins facing a contempt finding from the state's high court before he agreed to comply with the 2022 lines, per Roll Call.

Thursday's Supreme Court order effectively ended that standoff by pausing Clark's ruling and leaving the state court's decision — and the old map — in place while litigation continues, the Washington Post reported. As is typical on the Court's emergency docket, the justices gave no explanation for their decision.

"The law is the law, the Missouri constitution is clear," said Richard von Glahn, an organizer with the advocacy group People Not Politicians Missouri, which brought the state referendum challenge.

Hoskins, who had defended the new map, told local election officials Thursday that "my office is directing local election authorities to use the 2022 congressional map." Hanaway's office had separately warned that switching maps this close to the election risked "the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters" — an argument that failed to sway the justices for a second time. Republican Rep. Bob Onder has also filed a separate federal suit arguing the 2022 map itself is unconstitutional, keeping a parallel legal track alive.

What happens next: a panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals is still reviewing the underlying dispute, and Missouri's ballot-printing deadlines mean local election authorities must move quickly to finalize districts under the 2022 map for the fall election. Ballots are slated to begin going out to some voters within days. With control of the closely divided U.S. House potentially turning on a handful of seats nationwide, Missouri's map fight is likely to remain a flashpoint through Election Day — and possibly beyond it, if the Eighth Circuit or a future Supreme Court merits ruling changes the lines again.