# Supreme Court kills Missouri's extreme gerrymander

> The justices unanimously blocked Republicans' map that would have flipped a Democratic seat, signaling limits to partisan redistricting.
- Title: Supreme Court kills Missouri's extreme gerrymander | Shortify
- Summary: The justices unanimously blocked Republicans' map that would have flipped a Democratic seat, signaling limits to partisan redistricting. Even Trump-appointed…
- Keywords: supreme court, missouri, gerrymandering, redistricting, brett kavanaugh, 2026 election, kansas city, people not politicians, denny hoskins, republican map, congressional districts, Supreme
- Source: Mother Jones — https://motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/scotus-blocks-missouri-map-gerrymander-kavanaugh-republicans-house
- Author: Sophie Hurwitz
- Published: 2026-09-25T19:06:55+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: supreme court, missouri, gerrymandering, redistricting, brett kavanaugh, 2026 election, kansas city, people not politicians, denny hoskins, republican map, congressional districts
## Missouri's gerrymander gets blocked
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected Missouri Republicans' map that would have given them seven of eight congressional seats by splitting up Democratic Kansas City.
## GOP legislature redraws the map
In 2025, Missouri's Republican-led legislature redrew districts at Trump's urging to flip a Democratic seat, changing the split from 6-2 to 7-1 in their favor.
## Voters force a referendum
Angry Kansas City and St. Louis voters collected 300,000 signatures to put the map to a popular vote, arguing it should block the new map from the 2026 election.
## Courts clash over which map
Missouri's state court blocked the new map, but a federal judge sided with Republicans, creating chaos. The Supreme Court had to step in and settle the conflict.
## Kavanaugh already said no
Two weeks before the full court's decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh had already rejected the Republican appeal on his own, a rare signal of how weak their case was.
## Court warns lower courts off
The Supreme Court's final order sternly instructed lower courts to stop interfering and explicitly banned using the 2025 map in 2026, with no noted dissents.

> "require Missouri to use the 2025 map in the 2026 congressional election."
## Key takeaway

Even Trump-appointed justices rejected Missouri's gerrymander, suggesting the Supreme Court may finally be drawing a line on extreme partisan maps.