"Meet Me" host Luis Antonio Perez and STLPR politics correspondent Jason Rosenbaum discuss the impact of the Missouri Supreme Court's unanimous decision to put a congressional redistricting referendum on the ballot in November.
St. Louis Public Radio · Luis Antonio Perez · September 4, 2026
Solicitor General Louis Capozzi during Missouri Supreme Court oral arguments Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Pool Camera: Annelise Hanshaw/Mi) Editor’s note: On Tuesday, Sept. 8, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh denied an emergency request by Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and Attorney General Catherine Hanaway to put congressional lines passed in 2025 back in place for the Nov. 3 election. Minutes after Kavanaugh denied that move, U.S. District Judge Stephen Clark issued a temporary restraining order in a separate lawsuit involving two congressional candidates barring Hoskins from using any congressional map other than the 2025 plan for the Nov. 3 election. Clark's decision is expected to be appealed. The Missouri Supreme Court blocked a 2025 Missouri congressional redistricting map backed by President Donald Trump from taking effect and put a referendum on the map on the November ballot. The unanimous decision was issued on Thursday, one day after the court heard arguments in the case and five days before Missouri’s deadline to finalize the November ballots. The initiative and referendum powers in the Missouri Constitution allow for citizens to create and reject laws completely independent of the state legislature. They also let citizens approve or reject any act passed by the General Assembly. The state’s high court held that a congressional district is an “act of the general assembly” and that it therefore qualifies for a referendum. The map known by its proponents as the “Missouri First Map” was drawn and passed by GOP state lawmakers in 2025 with the aim of winning an additional congressional seat for Republicans. A petition effort organized by the group People Not Politicians received enough signatures to put a referendum on the November ballot that aims to overturn the map. As a result, the 2025 map never legally existed. The court ruled that Missouri’s 2022 map, created after the decennial census, will be the map used on Nov. 3, Election Day. Late Friday night, Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s office filed an emergency application to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to stay the effect of the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling. Kavanaugh handles emergency matters from Missouri as circuit justice for the Eighth Circuit. The application argues that the decision violates the federal elections clause of the U.S. Constitution and that voters would be disenfranchised by having to choose among “candidates that they had no role in choosing.” The argument refers to last month’s primary, which Missouri ran using the new — now invalid — 2025 map. Many voters would be forced to vote in a different congressional district in the general election than in the primary election. Ana Russel of Maryland Heights was among the voters who expected to vote in the 1st Congressional District before learning she had been drawn into the 2nd District. For her, the court decision puts things back the way they should be. “I was honestly elated to hear that because it really shows that the power is in our hands right now that we have spoken, and they're listening,” she said. Until the U.S. Supreme Court acts, Missouri sits between two outcomes: a general election that will be run under a different map from the primary, or a federal court overriding a state court’s unanimous reading of its own constitution. In this bonus episode of “Meet Me,” host Luis Antonio Perez catches up with STLPR’s politics correspondent Jason Rosenbaum about where redistricting stood as of the afternoon of Sept. 4. Credits: This episode was written, hosted, produced and mixed by Luis Antonio Perez, with story editing by Brian Heffernan and Alex Heuer, who also engineered the conversation. The executive producer of “Meet Me” is Brian Heffernan. Paola Rodriguez is our engagement producer with editorial support from Lara Hamdan. Podcast art by Cristina Fletes-Mach. Our theme music is by Kudda & Friends . Additional music by Thomas Paden. Grant support comes from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. Follow us on Instagram @MeetMeSTL