Dueling Orders Leave Missouri’s Congressional Map Unresolved

Dueling Orders Leave Missouri’s Congressional Map Unresolved

By EditorSep 09, 20260 Comments
Two federal decisions landed within minutes of each other on September 8, pointing in opposite directions. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, acting alone and without explanation, rejected Missouri Republican officials' emergency application to stay the Missouri Supreme Court's September 3 ruling, leaving the 2022 map in place for November. Moments later, Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark of the Eastern District of Missouri issued a 14-day temporary restraining order barring Secretary of State Denny Hoskins from using any map other than the one drawn in the 2025 special session, ruling in a suit filed September 4 by U.S. Rep.…
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Maryland Supreme Court Sends Redistricting Amendment to Voters, With Rewritten Language

Maryland Supreme Court Sends Redistricting Amendment to Voters, With Rewritten Language

By EditorSep 07, 20260 Comments
The Supreme Court of Maryland ruled on September 3 that a proposed constitutional amendment on congressional redistricting will appear on the November ballot, reversing two circuit courts that had blocked it. The amendment would supersede a 2022 circuit court ruling by Judge Lynne Battaglia that applied the Maryland Constitution's compactness and contiguity requirements to congressional districts for the first time, standards previously understood to govern only state legislative districts. Senate President Bill Ferguson cited that ruling when he declined to have a Senate vote on a House-passed congressional map in February. The amendment (HB 2100) is intended to remove the…
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Missouri Supreme Court Blocks 2025 Congressional Map, Orders Referendum

Missouri Supreme Court Blocks 2025 Congressional Map, Orders Referendum

By EditorSep 05, 20260 Comments
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously on September 3 that the state's 2025 congressional map cannot be used in the November election and that voters must approve it by referendum. Writing for the court, Judge Ginger Gooch held that the Missouri Constitution's provision authorizing a referendum on "any act of the general assembly" contains no exception for redistricting because the plain language of the Missouri Constitution authorizes a referendum for any act of the general assembly, and no existing exception applies. The decision reverses Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green, who had ruled in August that the federal Elections Clause…
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Missouri Judge Blocks Redistricting Referendum From November Ballot. Appeal Filed

Missouri Judge Blocks Redistricting Referendum From November Ballot. Appeal Filed

By EditorAug 21, 20260 Comments
A Missouri judge has ruled that the state's congressional map cannot be put to a referendum vote. On August 19, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green upheld Secretary of State Denny Hoskins' refusal to place the referendum on the November ballot, found Hoskins' decision lawful, and ordered that the 2025 map "remain in full force and effect for the 2026 general election." Gov. Mike Kehoe signed the map into law on September 28, 2025, after calling the Republican-led General Assembly into a special session in response to President Trump's request that GOP-controlled states redraw their congressional boundaries before the midterms.…
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Missouri Secretary of State Rejects Redistricting Referendum on Constitutional Grounds

Missouri Secretary of State Rejects Redistricting Referendum on Constitutional Grounds

By EditorAug 06, 2026
The referendum fight that loomed over Missouri's congressional map for months came to a head on August 4, 2026, when Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declined to certify the referendum petition, declaring it unconstitutional a few hours before polls closed in the state's primary election. Hoskins refused to tell reporters whether the petition contained enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot, saying the count was irrelevant because the Missouri Constitution does not permit a referendum on redistricting. "Whether they had one signature or 500 million signatures doesn't really matter because they are unconstitutional," Hoskins said, noting that the…
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8th Circuit Reverses Its Ruling on Native American Minority District Post Callais

8th Circuit Reverses Its Ruling on Native American Minority District Post Callais

By EditorJul 11, 2026
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Tuesday, July 7, to reverse a 2023 legal victory by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Nation, in which a federal district court judge had concluded that North Dakota's state legislative map unlawfully diluted Native American voting strength in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The case has a long procedural history. In 2023, the U.S. District Court sided with the tribes and ordered a remedial map, which was used in the 2024 elections, resulting in three tribal members being elected to…
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Callais Comes to County Government: Federal Judge Applies New VRA Standard to Mississippi Local Map

Callais Comes to County Government: Federal Judge Applies New VRA Standard to Mississippi Local Map

By EditorJun 25, 2026
A federal judge in Mississippi ruled on June 24 that DeSoto County's 2022 electoral map does not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, dismissing a challenge brought by the DeSoto County NAACP, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and two Black voters who alleged the map dilutes Black voting power across 25 local offices, including the Board of Supervisors, Board of Education, Election Commission, justice court judges, and constables. The U.S. District Court, applying the Supreme Court's April 29 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, found the plaintiffs failed all three preconditions of the Gingles test - the threshold legal standard…
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Supreme Court’s Emergency Order Restores Alabama’s 2023 Congressional Map

Supreme Court’s Emergency Order Restores Alabama’s 2023 Congressional Map

By EditorJun 04, 2026
The Supreme Court on Tuesday night allowed Alabama to use a congressional map favoring Republicans in this year's elections, blocking a lower court ruling that the map intentionally discriminates against Black voters. The justices granted the state's emergency appeal to use a map it adopted in 2023 that has a majority-Black population in just one of its seven congressional districts. The three liberal justices dissented. The ruling takes effect immediately, meaning Alabama will use its 2023 map for its August 11 special primary elections covering the affected congressional districts. Unlike many shadow docket orders, the majority provided some explanation in…
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South Carolina Mid-Decade Redistricting Is Dead. For Now

South Carolina Mid-Decade Redistricting Is Dead. For Now

By EditorMay 26, 2026
The Republican-led South Carolina Senate voted Tuesday against advancing a new congressional map, ending the redistricting effort in the state for now. Twelve Republicans joined with Senate Democrats to vote for a motion to kill the legislative effort to redraw South Carolina's seven congressional districts. The vote was 20-24 against a motion to force a final vote on the bill/map. The high-profile push came to an abrupt end as South Carolina state senators adjourned the special session, backing away from changes to district lines amid surging early voting across the state. Lawmakers spent roughly three hours at the State House…
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SCOTUS Reverses Mississippi Legislative Map Ruling

SCOTUS Reverses Mississippi Legislative Map Ruling

By EditorMay 18, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a brief order Monday, reversed a lower court's ruling that determined Mississippi lawmakers unlawfully diluted Black voting strength when it redrew the state's legislative districts. The Supreme Court's decision to toss out the ruling in the Mississippi case, along with a similar ruling in North Dakota, is the latest order set off by the justices' 6-3 decision in Callais last month. Earlier this month, the high court similarly tossed a Voting Rights Act (VRA) ruling against Alabama's congressional map that had mandated the state have two majority-Black districts. The Callais ruling, along with subsequent orders…
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