The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a GOP effort to use a new Missouri congressional map in November's midterm elections.
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a GOP effort to use a new Missouri congressional map in November's midterm elections, handing a setback to President Donald Trump's push for more House districts.
The dispute followed Missouri’s use of the new lines in the Aug. 4 primary, while absentee ballots were mailed using 2022 districts.
The court said a late change would create "electoral chaos," leaving the post-census boundaries in place, St. Louis Public Radio reported.
Missouri Republicans redrew the map after Trump encouraged GOP-led states to reshape congressional districts ahead of the midterms. The plan was designed to give Republicans a potential seventh House seat out of eight by placing more Republican voters in a Kansas City-area district held by Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver.
Opponents gathered signatures to force a statewide referendum. The Missouri Supreme Court found the Republican map never took effect because it had been suspended by the ballot challenge, even though it was used in the primary.
Federal court rulings briefly revived the GOP map before the dispute returned to the Supreme Court. The decision leaves election officials to continue administering the November vote under the former map.
It was the high court’s third block of the Trump-backed plan.
______________
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
