A federal appeals panel on Monday ruled in favour of new congressional districts in Missouri, which are backed by Donald Trump. This decision comes despite the US Supreme Court having previously blocked the use of these districts in the November election.
The three-judge panel of the 8th US circuit court of appeals stated that Missouri should utilise the new Republican-drawn US House districts for the November election, consistent with their use in the August primary. The appeals judges asserted that reverting to the state's prior districts for the general election would be a violation of the US constitution.
However, the ruling does not have an immediate effect. The federal appellate panel has delayed the implementation of its order for a week, allowing time for a potential appeal. The US Supreme Court has twice previously ruled against the Trump-backed map and had blocked a lower court order favouring the map, pending a potential appeal and final decision by the high court.
Missouri is currently scheduled to conduct its November election using the same congressional districts that were in place for the 2024 and 2022 elections, following earlier decisions by both the Missouri Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court. Local election officials have already dispatched absentee ballots to overseas citizens and military voters based on these existing districts. State law mandates that absentee ballots be made available to all other voters by Tuesday.