在最高法院法官布雷特·卡瓦诺（Brett Kavanaugh）拒绝干预密苏里州国会地图的争议后不久，一名联邦地区法院法官发布了一项反对决定，即共和党偏好的地图应该保持不变，至少目前如此。
“在大选中使用不同的地图将对密苏里州国会选举的公平性和有序性造成严重破坏，使初选中被提名者的候选人资格和初选中投票者的选票受到质疑。法官斯蒂芬·克拉克写道：“广泛的选民困惑将不可避免地随之而来。”。
随着两党继续就十年中期的重划选区努力争吵不休，州选举管理人员争相为11月的选举准备选票，法律上的鞭笞注入了新的混乱。
目前的底线是，密苏里州美国众议院选区的僵局仍未解决，很可能最早于周三回到最高法院。
这是密苏里州前所未有的重划选区斗争的最新转折，这场斗争已经超过了候选人和选民通常为秋季竞选做准备的最后期限。
该州共和党控制的立法机构去年通过了一份新的国会地图，重新划定了目前由民主党众议员伊曼纽尔·克里弗（Emanuel Cleaver）控制的选区，向共和党倾斜，这是唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）总统鼓励的全国中期选区选举的一部分。
但民主党人和其他新地图的反对者提出了法律挑战，并开始投票表决新地图，以便在11月进行投票，让选民有可能决定是否保留地图。他们还认为，如果新地图在11月进行公投，除非选民批准，否则建立新地图的法律将被中止，密苏里州的选举应该在该州旧的国会地图下举行。
密苏里州国务卿丹尼·霍斯金斯（Denny Hoskins）最初在8月初决定，他不会对公投进行认证，称他已经确定公投违宪。推动公投的团体“人民不是政客”成功地将该裁决上诉到州最高法院，最高法院裁定禁止在11月使用新地图，并允许投票活动继续进行。
共和党人呼吁美国最高法院寻求干预，因为他们同时追求第二轨道的法律战线。
负责监督密苏里州联邦法院的卡瓦诺周三在一个案件中拒绝了共和党人的紧急上诉，但没有解释。片刻之后，克拉克法官在另一个案件中发布了他的裁决，承认了卡瓦诺的决定。
密苏里州司法部长凯瑟琳·哈纳威（Catherine Hanaway）周二晚上表示，在克拉克做出裁决后，该州将准备使用更新的2025年地图。
“密苏里州准备遵循并遵守首席法官克拉克的命令，该命令约束该州在11月的大选中使用［2025年］密苏里州第一张地图。我们坚持认为，在初选和大选之间改变国会地图根本不可行，而且对密苏里州的选民来说非常不公平。
Federal judge revives GOP-friendly Missouri congressional map after Kavanaugh denies Republicans＇ appeal
Shortly after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh declined to intervene in the dispute over Missouri＇s congressional map -- leaving in place a state court mandate that officials use a map favored by Democrats -- a federal district court judge issued an opposing decision that the GOP-preferred map should stand， at least for now．
＂Using a different map for the general election would wreak havoc on the fairness and orderliness of Missouri＇s congressional elections， calling into question the candidacy of those nominated in the primaries and the votes of those who voted in the primaries． Widespread voter confusion would inevitably follow，＂ Judge Stephen Clark wrote．
The legal whiplash injected fresh confusion asboth parties continue to wrangle over a mid-decade redistricting pushand state election administrators scramble to prepare ballots for the November election．
The bottom line at the moment is that the standoff over Missouri＇s U．S． House districtsremains unresolved and is likely to return to the Supreme Court， possibly as soon as Wednesday．
It＇s the latest twist in Missouri＇sunprecedented fight over redistricting that has stretched past the deadline by which candidates and voters typically settle in for the fall campaign．
The state＇s Republican-controlled legislature last year passed into law a new congressional map that redrew the district currently held by Democratic U．S． Rep． Emanuel Cleaver to lean Republican as part of a nationwide mid-decaderedistrictingpush encouraged by President Donald Trump．
But Democrats and other opponents of the new map filed legal challenges and began a ballot initiative to put the new map up for a vote in November， allowing voters to potentially decide whether to keep the map in place． They also argued that if the new map was put up for a referendum vote in November， that would suspend the law establishing the new map unless voters approved it and that Missouri＇s elections should be held under the state＇s older congressional map．
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins initially decided in early August that he would not certify the referendum to the ballot， saying he had determined it was unconstitutional． The group pushing the referendum vote， People Not Politicians， successfully appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court， which ruled to block the new map from being used in November and to allow the ballot initiative to proceed．
Republicans appealed to the U．S． Supreme Court seeking intervention as they simultaneously pursued a second-track legal front．
Kavanaugh， who oversees Missouri federal courts， declined Republicans＇ emergency appeal in one case on Wednesday without explanation．Moments later Judge Clark issued his ruling in a separate case， which acknowledged Kavanaugh＇s decision．
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway on Tuesday evening indicated the state will be ready to use the newer 2025 map after Clark＇s ruling．
＂Missouri is prepared to follow and comply with Chief Judge Clark＇s order that binds the state to using the ［2025］ Missouri FIRST map for the November General Election． We maintain that changing the congressional map in between the primary and general elections is simply not feasible and profoundly unjust to Missouri voters，＂ she posted on X．
