Missouri voters have been fighting for the past year for their right to vote under fair maps and have their voices heard through the referendum process. Now, this battle has reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
After more than 300,000 Missourians signed a referendum petition on a mid-decade, gerrymandered map passed by the state legislature in 2025, the new map should have been paused until voters had a chance to vote on it. Instead, Missouri’s Secretary of State Denny Hoskins engaged in intentional delay tactics to attempt to force Missouri voters to vote under an unlawful map in the 2026 elections.
The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Secretary’s arguments, holding that because Missouri voters exercised their referendum right, the 2025 map “is not the law and has never been the law.” The court ordered that the 2026 election take place under the prior, lawful, congressional map.
In response, Secretary Hoskins went to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking to overturn the unanimous decision of his state’s supreme court.
Campaign Legal Center, alongside the ACLU of Missouri and ACLU Voting Rights Project, filed an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the rights of Missourians to participate in democracy by referendum and vote in lawful congressional districts this November.
How did we get here?
In September 2025, in response to President Trump’s urging, the Missouri General Assembly passed House Bill 1 (H.B. 1), which created a new, mid-decade, gerrymandered map. In response to the new map, Missourians exercised their rights under the Missouri Constitution and collected signatures for a referendum petition on the new map.
More than 300,000 signatures were collected in support of the referendum – twice the amount needed for a referendum. Under state law, the referendum petition should have paused the use of the new map until voters had an opportunity to vote on it in the next election, and the lawful 2022 Congressional map should have remained in use.
However, in an attempt to use the gerrymandered 2025 map for the 2026 elections, Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins announced that he would delay as long as possible in certifying the referendum petition. And after an eight month delay, Secretary Hoskins eventually denied the referendum petition, falsely claiming that the referendum right does not apply to redistricting.
In response to Secretary Hoskins’ intentional delay tactics and unlawful actions, a voter sued to challenge Secretary Hoskins’ denial of the referendum. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously that under the Missouri Constitution, referenda can apply to congressional redistricting, just as they apply to any other law passed by the General Assembly.
Therefore, since more than enough signatures were submitted, the new map should have been suspended. The Missouri Supreme Court was clear: the new map "is not the law and has never been the law” in Missouri. The Missouri Supreme Court held that the 2026 election must go forward under the 2022 map, the only lawful congressional map in Missouri.
But in an attempt to keep this unlawful, gerrymandered map in place, Secretary Hoskins has gone to the Supreme Court, asking it to condone his delay tactics, ignore established precedent, and allow the use of an unlawful map,
Under the U.S. Elections Clause, the Constitution gives states the power to draw their own maps according to the laws of the state, which includes the people’s right to referendum, as the U.S. Supreme Court has held for over a century.
What’s next for Missouri voters?
Our democracy cannot work unless voters have an equal opportunity to participate in their government, and this includes voting under fair maps. The Supreme Court must do its job and uphold both federal law and state law.
Campaign Legal Center will continue to work alongside these voters to ensure that all Missourians have equal representation, fair maps, and a meaningful opportunity to participate in our democracy. Join us today.