A Court Restored Missouri's Trump-Backed Map. California's Map Fight Is Next.

Three federal appeals judges ordered a permanent injunction for the 7-1 map, and the Supreme Court can still step in.

Missouri must use the Republican-drawn congressional map that Trump backed when it votes in the November general election, a three-judge federal appeals panel ruled Monday, September 21, 2026. Going back to the state's older map would violate the U.S. Constitution, the panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held, the Associated Press reported. The U.S. Supreme Court still has the last word.

What's at stake for a Missouri voter is which district they're voting in. The 2025 map is drawn to give Republicans seven of the state's eight congressional seats; the map used in 2022 and 2024 split them 6-2. Missourians already cast primary ballots under the 2025 lines in August 2026.

“The Constitution does not permit Missouri to use a different congressional district map in the November 2026 general election than it used in the August 2026 primary election,” the panel wrote, per the AP account.

The Hill, which reported the ruling Monday evening, quoted the panel on what a late switch would cost: “If the 2022 map is used in the November 2026 general election, some Missouri voters will have more say than others on who represents them in Congress.”

The order doesn't close the case. It tells a lower court what to do.

The panel directed U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark, a Trump appointee, to enter a permanent injunction barring the state from using any map other than the 2025 one, and to delay that injunction's effect by a week.

Clark had already sided with the Republican plaintiff, Rep. Bob Onder of Missouri, and ordered the state to keep using the new map. It was the Supreme Court that halted Clark's order, with no noted dissents and no public explanation, The Hill reported.

The panel was Judge James Loken, appointed by George H.W. Bush, with Judges David Stras and Justin Smith, both Trump appointees. No dissents were noted.

Election clerks had warned that changing maps now would confuse voters. The panel's answer, per The Hill's account, was that any confusion traced back to a state court's last-minute decision to switch the map.

There's a reason to read this one from Los Angeles. California's own redistricting fight is waiting on the same question, and the Supreme Court hasn't answered it.

For now, Missouri's November ballots are drawn on the 7-1 map, and the clock the panel set runs one week from the day Clark enters the injunction.