Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh and a federal judge issued opposite decisions on the fate of a congressional map that favored the GOP, leaving races in limbo.
Page A5From§Eachthe late evening edition — 8 September 2026
TWO COURTS, ONE MAP
Missouri congressional map rejected by Supreme Court, approved by federal judge hours later, same map, same day.
As it ran on the front
You have to hand it to them. A state attorney general's office that loses in its own state Supreme Court, loses the emergency stay at the U.S. Supreme Court, and still ends up running the map both of those courts just ruled against — that's not a shop that fumbles. That's an operation that knows exactly which door to walk through and when. Which is exactly why page nine stops me, because an outfit built that well doesn't usually leave two courts holding live, opposite rulings on the same district lines at the same hour. That's the kind of thing that happens when you're moving faster than you're checking your own glovebox.
I wrote some of this down as it came over the wire, because I wanted the order straight in my head. September 3rd — I've got it right here — the Missouri Supreme Court threw out the new congressional map and told the state to run this fall's election on the old lines, until voters themselves get to weigh in. Two days later, the state's attorney general filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking Justice Kavanaugh to put the new map back — the one that turns the delegation from six-two to seven-one. That's a count I'll give you once and leave alone: one seat. That's the whole reason for the redraw.…
…(cont) Then Tuesday — I wrote the date down twice to be sure — Justice Kavanaugh denied the application. The new map stayed blocked, as far as the country's highest court was concerned. And according to CBS, hours after that same denial, a federal judge in a separate case ruled the state should go ahead and use the new map starting now.
Hours. Not the following week. The same Tuesday.
I keep two things in the glovebox of that car in my driveway — the one that needs a new belt, I've known it for a month — the current registration, and the one from before I got around to swapping it out. I know which one's good because I put the new one on top. That's Missouri's glovebox right now, both papers on top. The state Supreme Court's ruling hasn't been reversed — it's still sitting there, same as my old registration would be sitting in that glovebox if I hadn't pulled it out. The federal judge's ruling landed right over it, hours later, same district, same election.
I sat with the mail on the porch that same week — water bill, county notice, the usual — and thought about what it means for a state to have a top state court and a federal district court each holding a live, unreversed ruling on which lines your own congressional district sits inside. Not one replacing the other in the record. Both, on the books, at once.
The Times reported this week that Missouri officials say they intend to move forward using the redrawn map — the one their own state Supreme Court threw out, the one the U.S. Supreme Court just declined to put back.
Oh — hold on, before I let you go — I keep meaning to ask this and maybe you've got it in front of you: which one of those two rulings is the one actually printing the ballots this November?
“They lost twice — their own state Supreme Court, then the U.S. Supreme Court — and they're running the map anyway, because losing in court doesn't cost you a seat if you just keep using the map you lost on. That's not confusion, that's Missouri Republicans betting there's no time left on the clock to unwind it before the election. Whoever wins that seventh seat wins it because a federal judge moved faster than the record could catch up, not because the state's top court stopped ruling.”
“Look, the federal court cleared the new map for use — that's a real ruling from a real judge, and the Supreme Court didn't say the map was illegal, they just declined to intervene, there's a difference. Missouri's simply following the ruling that's actually in effect for the election — both of them, actually, at the same time, which — did I say both of them govern the election? That doesn't sound like something I'd say, let me start over.”
The receipts
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Tuesday refused to restore Missouri’s new congressional map, which was poised to give Republicans a pickup opportunity this November, but the map’s fate remains unclear after a ruling in a separate lawsuit. Missouri Republicans hope to return to the new 7-1 House map favoring them after the Show…
A federal judge ruled that Missouri should use a new congressional map that favors Republicans for now, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a ruling from the state's highest court directing Missouri to use an older map.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied the emergency appeal by Republicans seeking to preserve a GOP-friendly redrawn congressional district map for the November election.
After losing in two courts and winning in another, Missouri officials said they planned to forge ahead with using a congressional map that was redrawn to benefit Republicans.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied an emergency application to block a Missouri Supreme Court ruling barring the state from using its new congressional map, which favors Republicans. CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navarro has more.
A Supreme Court justice rejected a bid to revive Missouri’s pro-GOP redistricting before midterms, but a federal judge practically simultaneously gave the state the OK to continue with the plan.
· Missouri asks Supreme Court to restore GOP-friendly congressional map from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Missouri asks Supreme Court to overturn block of new congressional map before election from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Live updates: Hegseth eyes Driscoll replacement, Missouri asks to restore GOP-friendly congressional map from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
· Missouri Supreme Court throws out GOP-favored House maps from the morgue, 3 Sep 2026
· Missouri's top court blocks new House map favoring GOP until voters can weigh in from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
· Missouri AG files petition asking Supreme Court to revive Trump-backed redistricting map from the morgue, 5 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.